Texas Rangers forward Chris Young believes the best is yet to come for Jacob deGrom

Texas Rangers President of Baseball Operations Chris Young joined in Musers on Sportsradio 96.7 FM/1310 The Ticket (KTCK-AM) to discuss the Rangers' offensive regression, expectations for the pitching staff and the chances of retaining free-agent pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.

Below are highlights from the interview, which have been slightly condensed for clarity.

The offense has been a bit of a mystery this season, but guys like Adolis Garcia and Jonah Heim have taken a step back. Was 2023 just a career year for them, or do you expect these guys to bounce back?

Chris Young: I do think there's obviously a natural regression occurring, and whether it's career years for these guys in 2023 or not, we hope that's not the case. We hope that this is more of the norm. However, we are not going into the season assuming that these players will achieve the same level of performance as them. There's always some balance etc in our projections, but what we didn't expect is for them to fall into their 20th percentile result where it would really impact the overall performance of the team, and then you add another Couple Add to that the significant injuries caused by the sub-par performance and that really explains why we have regressed offensively. I think almost 200 runs less than we scored in 2023, and I think even if we had fallen by just 100 runs less, we would probably be a playoff team.

So we still have a lot of work to do to see if these guys can bounce back. I have great confidence in them, especially in the people, in the character of these players, I know they are unhappy, I know they are hungry. I know they were disappointed and I know they believe they can be better major league players. And honestly, they need to be major league players for their careers to continue. I think they understand what it's about and I think they understand the work and the foundation that needs to be created and built this offseason. And most importantly, they are hungry and that is why I am confident in these players. I believe they will do whatever it takes and I hope we can continue to support them and then also find some other players that we can complement if these guys don't get back on their feet.

How encouraged are you as a former pitcher? the young guys you could see this year like Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker and Cody Bradford?

Young: I am, and I think aside from the young guys we've seen this year, our pitching development has really evolved over the last couple of seasons and I think it's a collective effort from our amateur scouting group and targeting the right players. to our player development group, our assistant GM who oversees player development, Ross Fenstermaker, our pitching coordinators Jordan Tiegs and Sam Niedorf and then of course all of our pitching coaches and really the alignment, speed and continuity from top to bottom all the way down in the entire organization.

And of course, when I came here four years ago, the Rangers were never known for improving their pitching, and it was one of my goals that we get to a point where we can have homegrown pitching to help our major league to support team. Although we're not quite there yet, I think we've had great success in developing starting pitching over the last two years. Cole Ragans, the success he's having in Kansas City, and I hate even mentioning his name because he pitches so well. We definitely miss him. But our development group got him to the big leagues, and then Cody Bradford, and then we have Kumar and Jack and a lot of others that are in Double-A, and I'm hoping they'll make their debuts next year. So we've come a long way, but I won't say we're there yet until we establish major league starters in our rotation. I'm not going to say that we have this figured out and that we still have a lot of work to do, but I think we have a good thing going and I hope that momentum continues.

How encouraged were you with how Jacob deGrom looked in his few starts?

Young: First of all, Jacob, it was so much fun to see him back out there and I think we all saw the pain on his face and the emotion when we announced he needed Tommy John. I know Jacob has carried the burden of feeling like he's let the people down or let the organization down, and that's not the case. I think the best is yet to come with Jacob, that we're going to have a healthy Jacob deGrom here for the long haul, and it was so much fun to see him out there. I think the most important thing, more than the performance, was just being a man every day who had a smile on his face and knew he was happy and healthy, and I think that's a sign for me. I've suffered a lot of injuries throughout my career and I know how much that can take a toll on you, and Jacob didn't seem to carry that burden when we had our normal, everyday interaction. So I was really happy for him. Also Kumar Rocker. He had gone through Tommy John rehab, similar to Jacob, and to see the progress he made and actually get to the big leagues, make his debut and somewhat establish himself as a capable major league pitcher was really great . So these are big victories for these two guys and our medical group, but we have to keep going. We have to keep this momentum going.

How sure are you of this? Nathan Eovaldi is coming back next season?

Young: With Eovaldi, he's just a great competitor, a great leader, just someone without whom we wouldn't win the World Series. What he did when he came here and signed and established the pitching culture that we have. He was so important to us and I would love to have him back. We will explore all options to achieve this.

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