Kumar Rocker Earns 1st Career Win In Impressive Outing

There’s nothing greater than finally getting your first career win in Major League Baseball. For the Texas Rangers’ No. 2 prospect Kumar Rocker, that is now a reality. Two years removed from Tommy John surgery, Rocker helped the Rangers finish off a sweep with a 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels at Globe Life Field.

Rocker’s First Career Win

For the first time in his career, Majors or minors, Rocker pitched seven strong innings. Staggering just five hits for three runs while striking out eight and walking none. It was a dominant performance.

Rocker gave up one run in the 1st on a single from Jorge Soler but looked good striking out Mike Trout and Logan O’Hoppe. He cruised through the second, third, and fourth innings, one, two, three. The only trouble he found himself in was in the 5th inning. 

There weren’t many hard-hit balls, just some seeing-eye singles from Nolan Schanuel and Tim Anderson. The big blow came from a two-out, two-run single from Luis Rengifo to pull the Halos within one. Rocker hunkered down and struck out Trout to end the inning and retired the side in order in the sixth and seventh, solidifying the best start of his career.

Throughout the game, he had the Angels guessing, especially with his slider. He had 15 swings and misses, 13 on the slider alone. More than half of his 78 pitches were sliders, a stark difference from just four versus the Seattle Mariners in his last start. What a way to get your first win.

The Rangers Outlook

The Rangers are looking pretty good to start the year. After winning it all in 2023 to missing the playoffs in 2024, they are currently sitting in 1st place in the American League West at 12-7. If Rocker can recreate this night every night, it’s a scary Rangers rotation. Tyler Mahle and Nathan Eovaldi have been as consistent as ever, and Jacob deGrom is looking to return to his ace form.