Jeff Passan was in the ballpark Wednesday when Neftali Feliz made the case, whether he likes it or not, for his place in the Rangers' starting rotation.
Rangers’ Neftali Feliz Makes Case For Rotation
For someone who wants to close, Neftali Feliz is doing an awfully good impression of a starting pitcher.
Over three scoreless innings Wednesday, Feliz throttled the Oakland Athletics with a fastball that kissed 98 mph, embarrassed two batters with backward-K curveballs, dropped in changeups at 90 mph and, for good measure, unleashed a new pitch.
Yeah, a new pitch. Starting pitchers don’t really need four good pitches, but Feliz is working on a cutter and one scout told Passan “it’s a hell of a pitch.”
You have to admire the organization for sticking with the idea of Feliz as a starter.
Until the last bit of his time in Triple-A, Feliz was a starter in the minors and a good one. His strikeout rate was off the charts. And while his walk rate wasn’t good, he more than compensated by allowing only seven home runs in 276 innings.
Granted, he’s given up seven home runs in 100 major-league innings, but 1) that’s still a pretty solid rate, and 2) he’s more than compensated by lowering his walk rate ... which, also granted, might well be due to his limited role as a late-innings reliever.
We don’t know that Feliz can thrive as a starter in the majors. Maybe he’ll give up more home runs and more walks, to the point where management will pine for the bullpen version. But he’s young and he’s healthy and he’s got four pitches, and you have to at least give this a shot.
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