Ranking the Five Greatest Pitchers in Rangers History

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For the past few seasons, the Texas Rangers have sported one of the top pitching staffs in Major League Baseball. However, the current staff follows a long tradition of good pitching across the franchise's history. Here are the five greatest pitchers in Rangers history. 

5. Fergie Jenkins

Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins pitched 19 years in the Major Leagues, most notably with the Chicago Cubs. The winner of 284 career games, Jenkins pitched six years in Texas, compiling a 93-72 won-lost record and a 3.56 ERA. His best season in Texas was his first, 1974, when he led the Majors with 25 wins and finished second in the AL Cy Young Award voting. 

4. Yu Darvish 

A phenom in Japan, Darvish burst onto the American scene in 2012 with 221 strikeouts as a rookie and led the Majors with 277 the following season as the Cy Young runner-up. One of the most exciting Rangers in recent memory, Darvish made four all-star teams in five seasons with Texas and only misses out on a higher ranking due to a relatively short tenure with the club. 

3. Nolan Ryan 

The most famous player ever to wear a Rangers cap, Nolan Ryan was an imposing presence on the mound for a record 27 MLB seasons, striking out an incredible 5,714 batters and throwing seven no-hitters. The hardest thrower in the game past age 40, Ryan spent five seasons in Texas, tossing two of his no-hitters and leading the league twice in strikeouts. He ranks just above Darvish here because, although both were phenomenal during their brief stays in Texas, Ryan accomplished his feats in his age-42 through -46 seasons. 

2. Kenny Rogers 

A reliable arm during the turbulent 1990's and early 2000's, Rogers pitched 12 seasons for the Rangers, compiling 133 wins (second in franchise history) and 28 saves in nearly 2,000 innings. He also captured four Gold Glove awards with the team and threw the only perfect game in Rangers history on July 28, 1994 against the California Angels. 

1. Charlie Hough 

The owner of 216 wins and 2,362 strikeouts, Charlie Hough was a Ranger for 11 years, earning franchise records for career wins (139), innings pitched (2,308), strikeouts (1,452), starts (313), and complete games (98). A famed knuckleballer, Hough pitched effectively well into his forties, leaving Texas after his age-42 season and hanging on for four more years. He was an inaugural inductee into the Rangers Hall of Fame in 2003. 

Honorable mention: John Wetteland 

One of the best closers of the 1990's, John Wetteland is perhaps best known as Mariano Rivera's predecessor as the Yankee closer. After departing New York, Wetteland came to Texas and spent four years with the club, earning a franchise-record 150 saves and making two all-star teams. He never earned fewer than 31 saves in any season he spent with the Rangers. 

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