Something that I noticed about the Texas Rangers pitchers, that was kind of interesting to me, even if to no one else…
Though I do think it is probably interesting to others, which is why I’m doing this post.
The Texas Rangers have one of the hardest throwing rotations in the majors. Per Statcast, Texas Rangers starters have thrown pitches that clocked in at at least 95 mph 1,194 times this season, the sixth most in the majors in terms of total pitches. The Milwaukee Brewers are right behind the Rangers,
at 1,192 total pitches, but because Brewers starters have thrown fewer pitches than Rangers starters, on a percentage basis, the Brewers have thrown a higher percentage of pitches at least 95 mph (17.6%) than the Rangers (17.0%). Behind the Brewers and Rangers are the Marlins, at 1,169/15.7%.
The Mariners are far and away the hardest throwing rotation, with their starters throwing 1,751 pitches (23.8%) at least 95 mph. The Angels and Pirates are second and third, at 1,524/19.1% and 1,417/19.0%, respectively. After that are the Yankees (1,333/18.1%) and the Dodgers (1,312/18.7%).
After the Marlins there’s a big drop to the Phillies, at 999 pitches and 13.3%, then another big drop to the Mets and Cardinals, who are at 10.4% and 10.1%, respectively. The Giants, the Rockies and the Royals are at the bottom of the list, ranging from 3.3% to 3.9%.
For MLB as a whole, 10.4% of pitches thrown by starters are at least 95 mph. As a point of contrast, in 2008, the first year data is available, only 3.4% of pitches thrown by starters were at least that fast. The Phillies only had 13 such pitches all year.
The Rangers’ bullpen, though? Not hard throwing. The Rangers rank 30th among MLB teams in both total pitches at least 95 mph thrown by relievers and percentage of 95 mph pitches thrown by relievers (284/4.0%). The Mets are at 304/4.1%, the Twins are 365/4.9%, and no one else is lower than 6.4%.
The hardest throwing bullpen belongs to the Rockies, with 16.0% of pitches by relievers being at least 95 mph. The Phillies and the ChiSox are behind them, at 14.6% and 14.2%, respectively. For MLB as a whole, 9.6% of pitches thrown by relievers are at least 95 mph.
There’s a couple of interesting things here, to me. First is that starters are throwing a higher percentage of pitches at 95 mph or higher than relievers. That goes against conventional wisdom, which is that your relievers are going to throw harder because they don’t have to worry about pacing themselves and can go max effort.
In looking at the Statcast data, starting pitchers were throwing 3.X% of their pitches at least 95 mph from 2008-12. It bumped up over 4% in 2013, then got to 6.2% in 2015. The league average for starters was 5.X% from 2016-20, but then has increased every year since the pandemic, going from 6.1% in 2021 to 10.4% this year.
Relievers were at 4.2% in 2008, ranged from 4.8-5.1% from 2009-11, then were 5.6-5.7% in 2012-14 before jumping to 6.9% in 2015. From 2016-20 relievers threw 7.X% of their pitches at least 95 mph, jumped to 8.9% in 2021, then ranged from 9.2-9.4% in 2022-24. After bumping up to 10.2% in 2025, that percentage is down to 9.6% in 2026.
So, in every year prior to 2026, a relievers were throwing a higher percentage of pitches 95+ than starters, as one would expect. If this trend holds for the rest of 2026, it will be the first season in the Statcast Era that starters have thrown a higher percentage of 95+ mph pitches than relievers.
The percentage of 95+ mph pitches thrown by starters in 2019 was 5.2%, so the current 10.4% rate is a 100% increase. Relievers, on the other hand, were at 7.7% in 2019, with the current 9.6% rate being just a 25% increase.
The other thing of note is that, in terms of constructing a bullpen, Chris Young has definitely gone in an opposite direction than the league as a whole. In a league where teams are chasing velocity, especially in the bullpen, Young has put together a collection of relievers who, generally, don’t throw that hard.
And 2026 is not an outlier in that regards. Ranger relievers were dead last in 2025 in percentage of pitches at 95 mph or higher, at 4.3%. And they were last by a wide margin — the Braves and Guardians were 28th and 29th, at 6.9%. The Rangers were the only team to have fewer than 1000 pitches of at least 95 mph thrown by a reliever in 2025, at 983. The Guardians, at 1,651, had almost 700 more.
In 2024, the Rangers weren’t dead last, but there were in the bottom third, ranking 23rd at 7.9%.
I almost didn’t go look at the 2023 team, figuring that they would not fit the pattern, given they had hard throwers Jose Leclerc and Josh Sborz, as well as trade acquisition Aroldis Chapman. To my surprise, the 2023 Rangers almost exactly mirrored the 2024 team in that regard, ranking 23rd at 7.8%.
This would be more understandable if the Rangers had maintained a level consistency in their bullpen over the last several years. However, as has been much discussed around these parts, Chris Young has essentially rebuilt the bullpen every year since 2023. It isn’t a matter of the Rangers having a group of relievers that they trust and have under team control that happen to not throw that hard — the Rangers, under Chris Young, have chosen to build bullpens that don’t throw hard.
I’m not sure that I have any big takeaway from all this. I do think one possible explanation is that the Rangers have opted to minimize the amount of resources they devote to the bullpen, choosing to sign cheap relievers to one year deals, or trade for relievers who (with the exception of Chapman) are not pricey in terms of talent given up, and guys who throw hard are going to be more expensive. I’m not sure if that explains all of it, though.
