This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry¡¯s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox
ARLINGTON -- The Rangers aren¡¯t mathematically out of anything just yet, but the writing is on the wall as it pertains to the postseason. As the reigning World Series champs fall further and further behind, things in September can get boring.
Here are a few things to look forward to in September, as the Rangers look to finish the season strong despite what the standings look like.
Jacob deGrom¡¯s return
It almost goes without saying that deGrom returning to the mound is exciting, not just for the Rangers, but for baseball as a whole. The two-time Cy Young Award winner has been steadily rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. He¡¯s made two rehab starts already, and expected to make two more before an eventual return to the big league mound.
deGrom made his third rehab start on Sunday with Triple-A Round Rock, tossing 2 2/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts. Then, the plan is for him to head to Double-A Frisco on Saturday, Sept. 7. If all goes well, deGrom could conceivably rejoin the Rangers' rotation during the West Coast road trip between Arizona and Seattle afterward.
¡°I¡¯m thankful every day I can put this uniform on,¡± deGrom said after his last rehab start at Triple-A Round Rock. ¡°You miss a year-plus, so getting back out there and competing that¡¯s what we want to do. It's definitely exciting.¡±
Jack Leiter runway
In the back end of a doubleheader on Wednesday against the White Sox, Leiter (Texas' No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline) made his first big league start since May 14, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks in four-plus innings with four strikeouts.
It was the first of what would appear to be many starts for Leiter down the stretch this season. He is scheduled to make his next start on Monday against the Yankees at Globe Life Field, and Bochy said they hope to get him some runway throughout the rest of the year.
The Rangers¡¯ first-round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, Leiter had admittedly struggled throughout much of his professional career. But despite a 12.83 ERA in four big league starts, he¡¯s seemingly reached his peak at Triple-A with a 3.51 ERA at the level this season.
¡°We feel like he's done everything he can at Triple-A,¡± Rangers general manager Chris Young said. ¡°Now he needs some consistent starts at the Major League level. We¡¯re looking forward to him getting that in September, developing a routine, getting his work in between starts here at the big league level, getting familiar with the catchers, the processes, the systems, his scouting report, the travel, all the things that you just can't account for in Triple-A.
¡°There's an adjustment that happens in the big leagues, and it's going to be really important for him over the next month to get exposure to all of that, and then we expect the results to continue to improve.¡±
Wyatt Langford development
The Rangers had aspirations for Langford coming into this season. He¡¯s fallen a bit short of those expectations, especially after a slow start to the season in which he hit .224/.295/.293 through May 4 before landing on the injured list with a hamstring strain.
But since that IL stint, he¡¯s hit .247 with a .711 OPS. He¡¯s not perfect, and likely won¡¯t win the Rookie of the Year Award, but he¡¯s shown flashes of greatness through the season.
Langford¡¯s peak came in June, when he was named both the AL Rookie of the Month and the Rangers¡¯ Co-Player of the Month. In June, he hit .309/.368/.526 with three home runs, 22 RBIs, six doubles and three triples. He also recorded the 11th cycle in Rangers history, becoming the youngest player in franchise history to do so (22 years, 228 days).
In this last month, Langford will likely continue getting the time and space to figure out and adjust to big league pitching, in hopes of taking an even bigger leap into his second season.
Other young players
Both Young and Bochy mentioned the possibility of young players getting more time to shine in September, like Ezequiel Duran and Justin Foscue, both of whom have rejoined the big league club in the last week.
Others who have yet to make their big league debut -- like Blaine Crim or Dustin Harris -- could also get the opportunity for a callup when the Rangers are officially out of the playoff picture.
¡°There¡¯s names we¡¯ve talked about,¡± Bochy said. ¡°Obviously, Foscue for example, he¡¯s been up here. I don¡¯t wanna leave anybody out. There's some guys that are doing a pretty good job down there. So we'll see where we're at as far as this roster and who will come up.¡±