Rotation shuffle continues as Rangers get healthier

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.

MILWAUKEE -- The Rangers' current pitching staff is built on rotational depth. That’s by design, considering three veterans -- Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Tyler Mahle -- opened the season on the injured list and four other starters -- Dane Dunning, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray and Michael Lorenzen -- all spent time on the IL in the early part of the season.

But the Rangers are getting healthier. With Scherzer’s return to the rotation on Sunday, somebody needed to be bumped to the bullpen. Dunning drew the short straw.

“I’m really confident, because [Dunning is] fine doing whatever it takes to win a game,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “I talked to him [on Sunday] and we had a conversation in my office about it. He's done a good job starting and we're a little crowded right now. It's a workable situation. We know he can go right back in there and fill in if needed. He did a tremendous job last year in this role. We don't get to where we wanted to go without Dane Dunning last season, I’ll tell you that.”

Here's how the staff looks:

? Rotation: Eovaldi, Scherzer, Gray, Lorenzen, Andrew Heaney
? Bullpen: Dunning, José Ure?a, Jonathan Hernández, José Leclerc, Brock Burke, Jacob Latz, David Robertson, Kirby Yates (closer)

Dunning opened the 2023 season in the bullpen, posting a 1.77 ERA across his first eight appearances (20 1/3 innings). He then transitioned to the rotation when deGrom was sidelined due to Tommy John surgery. Dunning posted a 3.55 ERA in 147 innings as a starter. He also allowed nine runs in 5 1/3 innings out of the bullpen in a Sept. 5 loss to the Astros, inflating his overall ERA to 4.56 over 25 2/3 innings as a reliever.

Dunning pitched mainly out of the bullpen (28 relief appearances, five starts) in 2016, his junior year at the University of Florida, posting a 2.29 ERA in 78 2/3 innings, but he’s been a starter for the majority of his professional career.

“Whatever role they need me to perform in, whatever I can do to help the team, it doesn't matter,” Dunning said. “It doesn't matter to me. It’s a little bit different than starting, but I enjoy it. So I'm not mad about it. I'm just excited to hopefully get in some games.”

Players often say they’re always willing to do whatever it takes to help their team win. Dunning truly believes that for himself.

“I wouldn’t say it’s like riding a bike,” Dunning said of coming out of the bullpen. “I mean, hopefully it is. The first [time] out, there will probably be nerves a little bit up there. But other than that, for the most part, I just wanted to get in the game and to get as many outs as I can. ... Fortunately, I had a lot of decent experience with that last year. I have my routine that I used last year, and it worked well, so I'll be able to keep doing that from here on out.”

And even more Rangers starters could be heading to the bullpen soon.

With Mahle eyeing a return after the All-Star break and deGrom still on track for after the Trade Deadline, the Rangers will have more starters than they know what to do with if all remain healthy.

But as general manager Chris Young says: “You can never have too much starting pitching.”

It’ll always be a workable situation.

“It’s great,” Dunning said. “It just gives everyone a little bit more wiggle room. Obviously, the starting five, they're still staying on the routines and everything. But especially for our bullpen, I feel like it helps out a lot, because the bullpen kind of got worn out the past month or so. It allows for a little bit more rest [to] some of our guys, which hopefully helps out with longevity in the long run.”