Given the Texas Rangers' lack of quality starts this season, it's hard to believe they lead all of baseball in shutouts.
A big reason for that has been a bullpen that is made up of names that were nowhere near the radar as the Rangers entered spring training, and how effective the unit has been with all things considered.
For example, Shawn Tolleson, an Allen native, has 11 1/3 scoreless innings in a row. Aaron Poreda was on a similar streak before he broke bad and was sent down recently, but they still got much more out of him than they ever could have expected. Same goes for guys like Pedro Figueroa, before he was sidelined with an arm injury.
Alexi Ogando got off to a horrendous start, but he's turned it around recently. If Tanner Scheppers can be effective as a reliever again after failing as a starter, he'll be a boost when he returns possibly next week from the DL.
Then, of course, there's the guys that were supposed to be good — the Joakim Sorias and Neal Cotts and Jason Frasors of the world. They've held the winning back end of the bullpen in place.
With Martin Perez on the shelf now, basically the only guy the Rangers can rely on for a quality start is Yu Darvish, so that makes it all the more impressive that the Rangers lead the majors in shutouts.
