The Rangers’ Do-Everything Arm Needs Some Love

In 2021, Jacob Latz joined his big-league club in Texas looking to make any impact he could. Flash forward 10 starts and 92 relief appearances later, and the Texas Rangers southpaw has found a home closing games for his team.

After pitching to a 2.84 ERA in 85.2 innings last year, Latz has taken another step up — one that makes him a leader in the run-preventing machine that is the Rangers bullpen.

Through 19 appearances in 2026, Latz owns a 1.90 ERA and 2.51 FIP in his 23.2 innings of work, taking over the team’s closer role in the process as a result of Robert Garcia’s shoulder injury and Chris Martin’s underperformance.

Thanks in part to Latz’s late-inning work, Texas owns the league’s best bullpen ERA at 2.85. His 0.7 fWAR and five saves both lead the unit. This breakout came seemingly out of nowhere, and it’s possible thanks to his best weapon, a tool in his arsenal that’s as effective as any throughout Major League Baseball.

Stats were taken prior to play on May 22.

The Best Pitch in Baseball

So far this year, there have been 274 pitches to have at least 50 plate appearances end against them. None of the other 273 have produced a better RV/100 than Jacob Latz’s four-seam fastball.

On its 57 plate appearances, opponents are hitting .096 and slugging .135 against Latz’s four-seamer. It’s been good for a .172 xBA and .279 xSLG against, all culminating in a 4.6 RV/100. This is a pitch that Latz throws 52.8% of the time, more than double the usage of even his second-most-thrown pitch.

Coming in at a 52 degree arm angle, tied for the seventh highest among qualified lefties, the movement Latz gets on this pitch is what makes it so deceptive.

Since the start of 2025, 43.1% of his four-seamers produced at least 19 inches of induced vertical break, the ninth-highest rate among the 119 pitchers to throw at least 750 four-seam fastballs in that span.

Because of this, Latz has gotten opponents to hit the ball high in the air and not get much on it. Over the last two seasons, opponents have averaged a 23 degree launch angle against the pitch, tied for the 17th highest among the 82 pitchers to allow at least 150 batted balls on four-seamers since 2025.

But the key here is the exit velo on these balls in the air.

It’s a measly 7.0% barrel rate that opponents are putting up against Latz’s four-seamer, tied with ground-ball king Andre Pallante for the fifth-lowest barrel rate on the aforementioned list of 82.

When your batted-ball profile consists largely of weakly hit fly balls, you’re going to get results. That’s what Latz has done with his primary pitch.

Switching Things Up

Latz changes up his secondary pitch tendencies based on what side the opposing hitter bats from. It’s nothing new, but it’s been working this year.

LATZ PITCH TYPES BY HANDEDNESS	SLIDER	CHANGEUP	CURVEBALL
VS LEFT	40%	2%	2%
VS RIGHT	14%	24%	12%

Latz prioritizes his slider as a complimentary pitch to his four-seamer against lefties, and he uses the changeup while also mixing in more of his curveball against right-handed batters.

Righties are 1-for-9 against Latz’s changeup with a .222 slugging percentage against. They’ve also suffered a 40% whiff rate and 78.5 mph average exit velocity against the pitch. On top of that, righties are also 0-for-4 with a 40% whiff rate against the curveball.

Lefties have fared better against Latz’s slider. They’re 3-for-11 with a home run and a double, yielding a .273 average and .636 SLG. Latz also has a 48.1% whiff rate on his slider against left-handers, which is the 13th-highest whiff rate among the 85 pitchers that have thrown at least 50 sliders to lefties.

Good BABIP Luck

Perhaps the most remarkable point of Latz’s excellent season thus far is his .136 BABIP, the third lowest among the 265 pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched. It certainly won’t last over course of a season, but it’s not totally unfounded.

Carrying this feat is Latz’s 13.3% line-drive rate, the 12th lowest among the 374 pitchers to allow at least 30 batted balls. On top of that, opponents are only hitting .080 on ground balls against him, the fifth lowest among the 263 pitchers to allow at least 25 ground balls.

With the early-season turnover at the back end of the Rangers bullpen, Latz has provided some much-needed reliability. With his weapon of a four-seamer and favorable batted-ball profile, he’s turned himself into a major league closer and one of the more impressive relievers we’ve seen throughout the year.