2015 Rangers Positional Review: Sixth-Inning Man

With the Rangers' surprising season in the books, let's take a look at the season on a position-by-position basis.

2015 Sixth-Inning Relief

The guy: Keone Kela

When the Rangers demoted Neftali Feliz and bumped Shawn Tolleson into the closer's role in May, it was an awful time for the Rangers' bullpen as a whole. Aside from Tolleson, there was really only one other bright spot in the unit in rookie righty Keone Kela.

Kela worked a ton and had to take a break around the all-star break to just relax and recharge his battery and his arm, and his arm issues came back late in the year to where he couldn't pitch on consecutive days. But, he was really, really good.

Kela pitched with an edge and showed he has what it takes to possibly be a closer down the road. He was 7-5 with a 2.39 ERA and finished the regular season with 68 strikeouts in 60 1/3 innings. He picked up a win in the postseason and allowed a home run in three innings of work.

Overall, Kela was fantastic and his grade for the season is a resounding A+.

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