Rangers, Nathan Eovaldi Confident He Will Return to Rotation This Week

The Texas Rangers are monitoring Nathan Eovaldi and his back, but the right-hander appears confident his return to the rotation is imminent.

Eovaldi told reporters, including Kennedi Landry at MLB.com, that he’s “feeling good” and should be able to pitch on Wednesday, which would be the series finale with the Athletics at Globe Life Field.

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That backs up what president of baseball operations Chris Young told reporters on Tuesday. He said that the franchise was “targeting” Wednesday for Eovaldi’s return.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy did offer a hedge — but only a minor delay. He told reporters during his pre-game scrum that they were discussing Eovaldi internally, and that the 35-year-old would either start against the Athletics on Wednesday or in the opener against the Atlanta Braves on Friday.

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Eovaldi was supposed to face Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal on Sunday, who struck out 11 Rangers in that game, a 2-1 Tigers win. Bochy said Eovaldi experienced the back tightness during batting practice on Saturday, and it had not responded enough to treatment to allow him to pitch.

Jacob Latz took Eovaldi’s turn in the rotation.

The Rangers have coverage if they’re not comfortable with Eovaldi starting on Wednesday. They can start left-hander Patrick Corbin on normal rest. He started on Friday. Texas is also expected to activate Jon Gray sometime this week, and that could happen on Wednesday. If so, Gray would give Texas a backstop after a starter.

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Eovaldi (7-3, 1.58) has made 16 starts as has 94 strikeouts and 14 walks in 91 innings. The Rangers recently gave him a $100,000 bonus even though he didn’t make the All-Star team.

He hasn’t pitched since July 13 against Houston. If he pitches on Wednesday, he would do so on 10 days’ rest.

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He has already missed a month of the season due to an arm injury that he was able to return from before the end of the first half of the season.

For more Rangers news, head over to Rangers On SI.