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Texas Rangers GM Chris Young thrilled with Kumar Rocker: ‘He looks fantastic’

Young made a radio appearance and discussed Rocker’s return, the desperate playoff push and the trade deadline.

Texas Rangers general manager Chris Young made a Monday appearance on the GBag Nation on 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM) to discuss turning the season around, Kumar Rocker’s return from Tommy John and more.

Here are some of the highlights, edited for clarity.

Can this slide be turned around like it did last year?

Chris Young: There’s no doubt that when this team plays its best baseball, that we can compete with any team in the big leagues. Unfortunately, we have not seen that consistently at the level we were accustomed to seeing last year and really at the level we expected this year. I’m frustrated, I know the players are frustrated, [Bruce Bochy] and the staff is frustrated. But there’s still a lot of baseball left and we happen to be in a division where we’re not out of it. Stranger things have happened, we’ve got just about two months of baseball left. If we got hot here and play really good baseball from here to the end of the season, good things are ahead. But it’s time to go. My hope is that now is the time. We’ve got a huge series this week and hopefully it starts now.

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How did the trade deadline go overall for you? Was there anything you were hoping to get done, but weren’t able to make happen?

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Young: The deadline is interesting in that regard, because there’s so many different aspects to it. It’s very fluid. Your needs may not align with what the market allows you to do. I think that was the case this year. We were targeting a bat, trying to find a way to upgrade our offense or solidify our offense against right-handed pitching, especially. That hitter just never really materialized on the market. That person wasn’t out there and the price that we were willing to pay wasn’t within the consideration that we felt like we need to give it to acquire an impact bat. So with that, we pivoted a little bit, tried to upgrade our bullpen, shorten games a little bit, take some pressure off our starters. We were happy with what we were able to do, that said, we also recognize that our goals of adding a bat didn’t pan out. But I think the best thing we can do internally is get our guys performing offensively at the level they’re capable of. If they do that, we’ll feel really good about our team.

Is Adolis García the catalyst for this thing? Getting him going feels like the most important thing.

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Young: It is at this point. If not the most important thing, it’s one of the most important things. I think the beauty of our lineup last year was there was continuity throughout the lineup, and that we were really able to pass the baton to the next hitter. It was a one vs. nine approach where all nine guys to some degree were a threat, and could either at worst get on base via walk or work the count. This year, we feel like there’s been too many empty at-bats, there have been too many holes where we just haven’t had the consistency and continuity one through nine in the lineup. I think that the other day, on Saturday when we did see those big innings, we saw that. We saw an inning where we really passed the baton, guys got on base in different ways. [Adolis García] is a huge part of that. Josh Jung is certainly a huge part of that. Getting our guys playing to their accustomed level is the biggest thing that we can do. If we do that, I love our lineup. But right now, we just haven’t been able to consistently put the quality at-bats together like we did last year. I’m not saying we can’t do it, I really believe this team is capable of doing it. I think we saw it in April, I think offensively in April we were a very good team. But we’ve fallen off since then and it’s time for some of these guys to start figuring out what’s wrong, and making the adjustment and getting back to the way they can play.

Kumar Rocker has looked fantastic in his first few starts back from injury, what are your thoughts him and is there any chance we could see him in the big leagues this year?

Young: I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves in terms of a timeline for [Kumar Rocker], but it’s been really fun to see him. Kumar has worked so hard to get back to where he is. He looks fantastic, he’s in incredible shape, the ball is jumping out of his hand. I saw his first start in Frisco. It looked amazing. He just was so good, he had a wipeout slider, a curveball, a breaking ball, whatever he calls it. But regardless, it’s really exciting to see him. We know what kind of competitor he is. He’s got an elite makeup and mindset. So now, when we get him physically right and healthy and built back up, the sky’s the limit for him. I’m so happy for him because he’s been through so much, starting with the draft a few years ago where he didn’t sign. Had to re-enter, had shoulder surgery, then he signs with us, has a really good start to his career, had elbow issues, had to have Tommy John, and here he is pitching healthy again. I think we’re going to get a long run of healthy Kumar Rocker and he’s going to be a big part of our future.

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