Kumar Rocker

Few pitchers in recent memory returned from Tommy John surgery with such immediate and obvious success as Rocker at the end of 2024. He has significant pedigree and was a famous pitcher at Vanderbilt from 2019 through 2021, but Rocker wasn't on any top-100 prospect lists last season prior to returning to action. Rocker had Tommy John surgery in mid-May of 2023 and began his rehab assignment the first week of July 2024. That's a speedy recovery for a young, prized pitcher like Rocker, and after three short outings in the Arizona Complex League, the 6-foot-5 righty logged a 0.91 ERA, 0.57 WHIP and 47:4 K:BB in 29.2 innings over his next seven minor-league starts at Double-A and Triple-A. That level of dominance -- and the frontline-caliber stuff he was showing -- was not expected, but he quickly became the talk of the minors, culminating in a 10-K, one-hit, five-inning start for Triple-A Round Rock in late-August. Rocker made three big-league starts to close the year, with Texas signaling that he will be part of the rotation in 2025. His mid-90s fastball is a good pitch, but it's his mid-80s curveball (often mistakenly classified as a slider) that dominates hitters, particularly righties. If Rocker can add a quality cutter or changeup to his arsenal, that could allow him to be one of the better starters in the game, but as things stand, he should still rack up strikeouts on a per-start basis. He only logged 48.1 innings in 2024, so look for him to fall short of 150 innings this year. Read Past Outlooks