The Texas Rangers have agreed to terms on a minor league contract with left-hander Austin Gomber. The new deal includes an invite to major league spring training next month.
Drafted by the Cardinals
Austin Gomber was a fourth-round pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2014. He made his big league debut with the team in 2018 but was traded to the Colorado Rockies in the Nolan Arenado deal. Gomber has spent most of his career with the Rockies at this point.
He posted a 3.72 ERA with a 3.89 FIP in his 104 innings for the Cardinals, and at the time of his trade to Colorado, the Rockies were surely hoping he could become a reliable No. 4 starter for the club alongside pitchers like German Marquez and Kyle Freeland.
Up and Down
The results of Gomber’s time with the Rockies were mixed. His 4.53 ERA (94 ERA-minus; 100 = League Average, lower the better) in 23 starts for the Rockies in his debut season with the club was good, but he took a step back in 2022 and ’23 before creeping back up to roughly league average numbers in 2024. A big part of that step backwards was a decline in strikeout rate. He punched out 23.2% of his opponents while walking 8.4% in 2021.
Over his next three seasons, Austin Gomber managed to shave two points off that walk rate, lowering it to 6.3%, but that came at the expense of a much greater dip in strikeouts. From 2022-24, Gomber struck out only 16.3% of his opponents, a nearly seven-point drop relative to 2021. Gomber’s ground ball rate also dipped from a strong 44.3% to 40.5%.
Added Depth
Austin Gomber should give some much-needed rotation depth to the Rangers. They are in clear need of it even after trading for MacKenzie Gore. A rotation that could feature Gore, Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Jack Leiter, and Kumar Rocker looks very strong on paper, but Eovaldi and deGrom both come with substantial injury risk, and Rocker has yet to prove himself as a capable starter in the major leagues.
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