This reliever looks to build on playoff glory

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ARLINGTON -- Josh Sborz thought Sept. 4 might have been his last game with the Rangers. The right-hander just had one of his worst appearances of the season against the Astros at Globe Life Field, allowing six runs (five earned) in two-thirds of an inning.

He appeared two more times in the regular season against the Mariners in the final series. But going into the postseason, it was originally unclear what Sborz could provide the club.

But then something clicked. A 5.50 ERA in the regular season turned into a 0.75 ERA in the postseason. Sborz got the final seven outs of the deciding Game 5 of the World Series against the D-backs, placing himself smack in the middle of Rangers history with an emphatic glove spike to cap it off.

“It's going to take a couple of years for it to sink in,” Sborz said earlier this offseason. “You know, I still like thinking about it and looking at the videos quite often. I still don't believe it happened, you know? But truly an honor. Rest in peace to that glove. But yeah, really cool honor. It's in Cooperstown now.”

But that 5.50 ERA in the regular season or the subsequent iconic performance in the postseason don’t tell the full story of Sborz’s roller-coaster year. In a bullpen as inconsistent as any around the Majors, Sborz epitomized that by himself:

• April: 1.08 ERA in 8 1/3 IP
• May: 8.31 ERA in 8 2/3 IP
• June: 0.55 ERA in 16 1/3 IP
• July: 15.19 ERA in 5 1/3 IP
• August: 5.79 ERA in 9 1/3 IP
• September: 14.54 ERA in 4 1/3 IP

When asked what the biggest key was for those good stretches -- particularly in the postseason -- Sborz simply said health. Looking at his transaction page, it’s easy to come to that conclusion.

Sborz opened the season on the IL with a left ankle sprain. He landed there again in July with right biceps tendinitis, coming off a June in which he threw a whopping 16 1/3 innings. He landed on the IL for a third and final time in September with a left hamstring strain shortly after that brutal outing against Houston.

The question then becomes if Sborz can sustain that success and health over an entire season.

Sborz’s first year with the Rangers in 2021 was by far his best big league season, both health- and pitching-wise. He posted a 3.97 ERA in 59 innings out of the bullpen for the 102-loss squad. Any semblance of that version of Sborz would be a step up from ‘23.

With no returning reliever holding a 2023 ERA under 3.00 except José Leclerc (2.68), a reinvigorated Sborz would do wonders for the Rangers’ chances to repeat.

There’s no guarantee, but a healthy Sborz should put the Rangers in a much better position at the back of the bullpen going into 2024. And for the first time in his short tenure with the club, Sborz seemingly has a more solidified spot in the bullpen going into camp.

“[This offseason] is short,” Sborz said with a chuckle. “I took two weeks off and started throwing again before Christmas. The month that we played in the postseason and World Series was our off time normally, so I think you just have less downtime. But I love to play baseball, so I didn’t mind playing extra.”