Looking Ahead: No. 4 Starter

In what will be a daily post, we'll talk about the upcoming season for the Texas Rangers and where guys fit in on the roster. It's almost baseball time!

Matt Harrison made tremendous strides in 2011 after reading a lot of books and going to sports psychologists and the whole nine yards, Harrison added a few mph to his velocity and was a groundball machine, racking up a 14-9 record and eclipsed 185 innings.

This is almost a slap in the face to Harrison, considering he was a very solid No. 3 starter a year ago and now will be slotted in as the No. 4 guy, but that will only mean good things for Harrison. There has even been some talk about the Rangers packaging Harrison with some prospects to get some nice return on the trade market, but the Rangers would be foolish to do that at this point, especially considering the fact that their starting rotation was remarkably healthy last year. You almost have to think the baseball gods will get their revenge on the Rangers this year, which will put an added premium on pitching depth.

Harrison took a bit of a tumble in the 2011 postseason, and was just not good in his two World Series starts, including a Game 7 start that we all know should not have even been required in the first place. But over the course of the regular season, the Rangers went 20-10 in his 30 starts. That's more than enough to want or expect from a No. 4 starter.

If Harrison can replicate what he did last season as the Rangers' No. 3, things will be looking good in the starting rotation.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us