Rangers must be mindful of Taylor Hearn’s workload during stellar streak of starts

ANAHEIM, California – Taylor Hearn is really good as a starter. So good, maybe it’s time to start thinking about quitting.

When the season started there was no detailed plan for the supervision and regulation of Hearn’s innings. It was not necessary. He was a helper. Things change. Perhaps no one wearing a Rangers jersey this season has taken a chance better than Hearn when it comes to the start.

So what to do now?

On the other hand, these are the problems the Rangers would like to have.

In a 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels, Hearn scored seven innings at the highest career level and earned his second consecutive quality start on Sunday. He’s not gone a hitter for the third time in the last four appearances. He threw 70% of his pitches for strikes on Sunday and has done so in each of his last four games.

“He’s staying strong,” said manager Chris Woodward. “He feels strong. His things hold up pretty stable. We’ll go through it from the start but I think he’ll end the year and not have too many innings.

“But of course we didn’t expect that at the beginning of the year. We didn’t know where he was going to fall as a savior or a starter. He pitched well and earned these innings. “

Another “good” problem looming: Glendora, California-raised outfielder DJ Peters who filed a waiver a month ago, could have a real future with the Rangers. He played twice homered at Angels Stadium, where he played travel ball in high school, and had four career-high hits. Peters has nine homers a month since joining the Rangers. There are some inconsistencies, especially at high speed, but it has an intriguing set of tools.

To improve his consistency, Hearn has worked hard on the mental side of the game with his mental skills trainer, Mike Franco, that is, if you exchange motivational quotes and call basketball speaking, you are working on the mental side.

“We quotes each other,” said Hearn. “Today I told him that practicing is an audition for attitude and performance in the game. I just make things up.

“He just knows me and he knows that I like to be easy going and relaxed. Things like that help you mentally. So when we talk about Maverick’s basketball and give each other quotes, it’s kind of relaxed. “

He has also started building in a plumb line a lot more. He threw it 51% of the time on Sunday. The angels tried to attack it. It resulted in early contact and eight ground ball outs.

“You tried to ambush him,” said Woodward. “To show you how good fastball is, maybe he didn’t really use some of his other fields because they came out early. I just loved that he went out there and attacked the zone. “

Like Peters, Hearn was viewed as a fascinating set of unrolled tools. But he wanted to start. He believes the Rangers should seriously consider him as a starter in 2022. In this regard, you may need to consider his “care and nutrition” as essential elements of the last four weeks of the season.

Hearn’s start on Sunday was his 38th outing of the year, a professional high of more than a dozen. He has now postponed over 80 innings to 841/3. He pitched 129 in 2018, but had pitched only 372/3 in the past two years due to an elbow injury and the COVID pandemic.

Hearn’s innings count isn’t as difficult as some of the others, but he has made more appearances.

The Rangers have closely monitored Dane Dunning’s workload throughout the year. Your goal for him is 125 innings. Thanks to a two-week hiatus due to a positive COVID test last month, Dunning, which is expected to be activated in the coming week, is spot on for that. He has 104 innings.

Dunning had 144 innings in the minors in 2017 but underwent surgery from Tommy John in 2019. Care and maintenance are of the utmost importance. The goal is to get 150 innings or more over the next year.

Glenn Otto’s outing to Oakland on Friday could be his last of the season. Otto, who was acquired by the New York Yankees in the Joey Gallo trade, has racked up 952/3 innings, a jump of nearly 20 innings from his previous high of 791/3 that resulted from the combination of innings in his final season at Rice with his first professional season in 2017.

“We definitely talked about it,” said Woodward. “But at this point we see how he feels. Personally, I would like him to get more as long as there is no health risk.

“But whether it’s one or two or three more, we’re not going to push him to the limit. It really doesn’t make sense right now. “

Relievers Brett Martin (56 appearances) and Josh Sborz (53) have both surpassed their previous professional high for games. They have only appeared three times in the last 10 days. Sborz worked around a couple of walks in the eighth inning Sunday.

The Rangers have had to think about the pitchers’ future for the past four weeks. Hearn makes this a good problem.

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