On Wednesday, Texas Rangers pitchers and catcher will report to Surprise Arizona as they look to return to the postseason.

Fortunately for the Rangers, they’re entering camp without too many questions that need to be answered.

Pretty much the entire lineup is set in stone and the rotation, led by Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi is looking to be solid once again.

However, unlike their offensive counterparts, there is still a spot up for grabs in the starting rotation.

It seems pretty likely that deGrom and Eovaldi paired with Tyler Mahle and Cody Bradford will make up the front four but much like it is for many teams, the 5th spot seems up for grabs.

As things stack up now, this could end up being two guys who couldn’t be more different fighting for the last spot.

Jon Gray is in the final year of the four-year deal he signed with the Rangers before the 2022 season.

Throughout the rotation and the bullpen, Gray has appeared in 76 games with the Rangers during his tenure posting a 4.16 ERA.

On the other hand, Kumar Rocker has made just three starts in his MLB career but he has most certainly looked the part.

Rocker put up a 3.86 ERA in 11.2 innings but his fastball and slider proved to be a combo that will be able to get big-league hitters out for a long time.

Now as we head into 2025, Gray and Rocker are seemingly set to battle it out for the final spot in the big league rotation.

There are so many different dimensions to this battle, one of which is Gray’s ability to pitch out of the bullpen.

Gray is been strong coming out of the pen during his Rangers tenure including during the 2023 World Series run.

At some point this offseason, the Rangers have had internal conversations about Gray potentially being a closer but it doesn’t look like there is much smoke there.

When it comes to Rocker, he no doubt has the stuff to get MLB hitters out but with him still being so young, having him start at AAA Round Rock wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
As camp begins on Wednesday, all eyes will be on Rocker to see what he can do now that he has some big-league experience under his belt.

Ultimately, the Rangers will have well over a month to make what is stacking up to be a difficult decision.

It’s the classic rookie vs veteran argument and it’ll play out in Surprise over the next month and a half.