Man i love what im seeing out of this guy from ST and the little iv seen this season. He looks alot more confident then the last few times hes been up later in the season. I think he can be this years Ogando while Ogando is busy being this years CJ with Harrison. I doubt Ogando will stay in the rotation all season unless he keeps being effective. Hopefully Strop will break out this season and be the 8th inn guy next year when Feliz moves to the rotation and Ogando Closes, or if Ogando and Feliz are starting Strop would hopefully show RW enough that hell have confidence in him being the Closer.

Anyways
GO RANGERS

Strop has filthy stuff.

But he gets shaken easily.

You have got to have more confidence when you have filthy stuff like that.

Where was the splitter last night? I noticed he depended mostly on the fastball and the slider both of which were working well for him. But the splitter is his bread and butter, maybe it wasn't on, don't know.

If Wash is going to trust him in big game situations we are going to have to see more focus and more confidence.

I really really hope all of that comes together for Strop this year. Love his stuff, love it.

And I think it will, Wash is showing him some love, and once he's ready going out there won't be a burden anymore. Same with Mason Tobin who pitched well yesterday too.

Don't forget to show these guys some love Wash! Maybe I didn't need to say that.

Shouldnt he be SHOVED into a more important role in the bullpen with Lowe sucking Tobin getting injured Kirkman and Bush proving to be ineffective.?

I think Wash is handling Strop the right way. Strop's main problem is himself. He can come into a game and be lights out for 2 batters (i.e. Baltimore in the second game of the double-header), then let his guard down and be terrible for three hitters. He seems to thrive with the pressure of getting outs, but once he has success he relaxes and loses his control. His splitter is his bread and butter pitch, but if his slider is consistently as nasty as it was against Balitmore that day, then he will have a lot of sucess.

Mark Lowe: I never liked what I saw from him last year. Granted it was a small sample, and he was coming back from back surgery, but he has not impressed at all in any of his outings.

Kirkman: He had a lot of success last year coming out of the pen, and really only struggled in 1 or 2 games in the postseason. I think he will be just fine, and if he has continued success (not including last nights 1.2 IP 6H 6R 5ER and 54 pitch outing) will have a spot start later in the season (especially given his potential as a starter in the minors).

Bush: He's predominantly been a starter his entire career, but even then he was up and down with a W-L only a few games over .500. I like having him in a long relief role coming out of the pen, especially if Colby continues to pitch like has to start the season (5 HR in 3 starts, 5.82 ERA).

Unless the bullpen shows drastic improvement as a whole, the Rangers will be major players at the trade deadline. And with 3 starting pitchers on the DL things cold drastically improve once everyone is healthy. There are still 145 games to play, but the bullpen seems to be the only dark spot on an otherwise great team.