SEATTLE -- For the first time in his young career, Kumar Rocker knew his way around on the road.
¡°It¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve had the ability to say that in the Majors,¡± he joked on Monday.
Rocker, the Rangers¡¯ No. 2 prospect, is still in the stage of his career where just about everything is a first. Last year, he got called up for the first time. He just went through his first Spring Training as a Major Leaguer, broke camp with the big league club for the first time and heard his name announced on his first MLB Opening Day. His first start of the season was his first start at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
But Saturday, he was back at T-Mobile Park, seven months to the day after making one of the most highly anticipated debuts in Rangers franchise history.
¡°I just remember being quiet,¡± Rocker said. ¡°Everyone¡¯s playing a normal game that day, except the guy who¡¯s making his debut. That was [my] biggest game, which was cool.¡±
For once -- for the first time yet on the road -- he¡¯d been here before.
It made his Saturday start a clear benchmark, between who he was in his debut and who he is in the midst of his first full season.
¡°As far as growth, I think he knows to use his other pitches well and mix those in, including the changeup and the two-seamer like he did last game, and not try to bowl his way through these guys,¡± manager Bruce Bochy said pregame.
Saturday, in the Rangers¡¯ 9-2 loss to the Mariners, Rocker did just that. He presented nearly the opposite of the pitch profile he showed in his MLB debut in 3 1/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits and striking out two.
Throughout his road through the Minors, Rocker opened eyes with his slider. When he debuted last season, he got 13 whiffs with it, the third-most whiffs on a single pitch in an MLB debut since Statcast began tracking in 2015. He had another breaking ball in his arsenal -- a slower curveball -- but he barely ever went to it, throwing it four times in his first five career starts.
Saturday, he threw four curveballs in the first inning before he threw a single slider. When his night ended two batters into the fourth inning, he¡¯d thrown 18 curves. He averaged 76.6 mph on the pitch, just over 7 mph slower than his sliders averaged and 10 1/2 mph slower than his changeup.
For the most part, the Mariners had no idea what to do with the curve, taking 14 of them; half of those landed for strikes.
Afterward, both he and Bochy said the influx of curves wasn¡¯t due to any gameplan going in, but an in-game decision.
¡°That¡¯s what was landing early,¡± Rocker said. ¡°Needed to throw them something different to keep their eyes off the sinker.¡±
Rocker threw 68 pitches Saturday -- 40 sinkers, 18 curves, four changeups, four sliders and two four-seamers.
It was a far cry from his previous outing in Seattle, nearly entirely of four-seamers and sliders, with no curveballs at all.
¡°Sometimes the hard slider is not there for him, and he¡¯s got two breaking balls,¡± Bochy said. ¡°That¡¯s where he has to get a little bit more consistent with the breaking ball. Sometimes you see the hard ones, sometimes you don¡¯t; that¡¯s been going back and forth a little bit, even since Spring Training.¡±
The 25-year-old dealt with his fair share of tough luck. After two scoreless frames, J.P. Crawford logged Seattle¡¯s first hit with a single, before Julio Rodr¨ªguez hit a liner to left-center. Leody Taveras tried to cut it off aggressively but couldn¡¯t get to it, letting Crawford score and Rodr¨ªguez take third base, and Rodr¨ªguez came home a pitch later on a sacrifice fly to give the Mariners at 2-1 lead.
Three batters later, Rocker uncorked a 94.3 mph fastball that Jonah Heim couldn¡¯t corral. Instead of hitting the bricks behind home plate, the ball hit the edge of a raised metal letter and took a wicked bounce sideways, nearly into the first-base dugout, allowing Cal Raleigh to score from second.
The Mariners tagged Rocker for nine hard-hit balls (exit velocity 95 mph or higher), including the tough stretch in the third, which had five straight exit velocities over 100 mph.
¡°He just lost his command,¡± Bochy said. ¡°His ball/strike ratio wasn¡¯t very good, he was yanking the changeup and the fastball command and the curveball command kind of left him. He had to work hard. It was a bit of a struggle for him.¡±