With Justin Grimm making his major-league debut on Saturday night (6 IP, 3 runs, 7 Ks, 0 walks) and picked up a win and Scott Feldman scheduled to start on Wednesday night in San Diego, the stars aren't aligned for Grimm to just replace Feldman in the rotation. But with Roy Oswalt shaky at best and Neftali Feliz and Alexi Ogando shelved likely until after the all-star break, the Rangers have plenty of time to adjust some things.
And if the Rangers have the opportunity to adjust their rotation with an off-day on Thursday, they ought to consider putting Grimm in the rotation in place of a horribly struggling Feldman, who is now 0-6 on the season with a 6.50 ERA.
Grimm showed some electric stuff on Saturday night, hitting 94 mph with his fastball and showing a great over-the-top hammer curveball that seemed to drop off a ledge and fool many hitters en route to his seven strikeouts (including five straight at one point) and no walks.
Yes, it's one start. And yes, it was against the Houston Astros. But stuff is stuff, and Grimm showed he has it, along with a competitive desire to bounce back after giving up an early home run. All of that is more than Feldman has shown this year.
"That first inning was by far the hardest inning I've thrown in my entire career, throwing in front of 50,000 for the first time," Grimm told reporters. "Very jittery. I just had to stay within myself."
Hopefully he'll have another chance to do that without the nerves on his mind.
