Nearly two months to the day after he was demoted to Triple-A Round Rock, Robbie Ross earned himself another start for the Texas Rangers on Thursday night in the series finale with the Tampa Bay Rays after Yu Darvish was sent to the disabled list.
And it didn't take long for him to show the Rangers that his future isn't as a starter in the big leagues.
Ross got off to a smoking start, striking out the side in the first inning but then quickly saw his wheels come flying off as he allowed four runs in the next two innings and took a loss in his first Rangers appearance since June.
Ross had done pretty well over his past four or five starts in Round Rock to earn another shot, but quickly showed the Rangers were correct with their original assumption when they moved Ross back to the bullpen after a failed starting experiment before he was eventually sent down to regain his confidence and work on some mechanical issues.
Ross is still a promising young pitcher at just 25 years old, but it's becoming clearer by the day that his future with the Rangers (if there is one) is in the bullpen. As a rookie in 2012, he came out of nowhere to put up a 2.22 ERA and a 6-0 record in 58 appearances. Last season, he had a rough stretch and still managed to post a 3.03 ERA and 4-2 record in 65 games.
As a starter this year, prior to Thursday, Ross had posted a 9.00 ERA and now has 6.06 ERA for the Rangers this year. He's sure to get at least a couple of more starts and maybe more depending on what the Rangers decide to do with Yu Darvish.
But I think we all know how those are going to go.
