ARLINGTON, Texas — Pitching hardships don’t strike much harder than they did for Greenfield-native Kyle Gibson roughly three months ago.
Making his first-career opening day start on April Fool’s Day at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium, the Texas Rangers right-hander made history.
Just not how anyone imagined.
Gibson’s opening-day nod on April 1, from a statistical standpoint, was an ideal situation for the 33-year-old, who signed a three-year, $28 million contract with the Rangers in the 2019 off-season after seven big league seasons with the Minnesota Twins.
In his career, Gibson carried a 3.77 ERA at Kauffman Stadium prior to the 2021 opener with three wins and a complete game to his credit in 11 starts against his former organization’s American League Central rival.
Other than Boston’s Fenway Park (1.57 ERA), Chicago’s formerly named U.S. Cellular Field (2.72 ERA), Seattle’s SAFECO Field (3.35 ERA) and Houston’s Minute Maid Park (2.11 ERA), Gibson hadn’t performed anywhere better in regards to AL ballparks.
Unfortunately, those past statistics didn’t hold much weight once he delivered the first pitch.
Only able to get one out while surrendering five earned runs with three walks and one strikeout against eight batters, Gibson’s season ERA skyrocketed to 135.00 after one start.
The performance did little to ease concerns after the Rangers’ free agent acquisition turned in an underwhelming 5.35 ERA through 67.1 innings pitched the year prior during MLB’s condensed 2020 season.
However, one outing doesn’t define a season, and Gibson has been rewriting his 2021 narrative ever since his opening day disaster, leading to a career-first MLB All-Star Game selection.
At 6-0 on the season, Gibson owns an AL-leading 1.98 ERA, chipping away at the once five-digit eyesore he lugged around for six days before his second start.
Since April 7, Gibson has posted 15 consecutive quality starts and hasn’t allowed more than four hits in nine of those outings. Currently, he has 81 strikeouts in 95.2 innings with 29 walks issued and seven home runs allowed.
Gibson has personified the words, bounce back.
“It’s hard to put into words,” Gibson told MLB.com reporters after being named a 2021 AL All-Star. “There’s so many people to thank that have helped me along the way that have been a part of this journey. It’s surreal to think about. My reaction was, I mean I got choked up a little bit.
“I thanked a lot of the guys too. I’m not a guy that goes out there and strikes out 130 guys in the first half. I rely on my defense quite a bit and our defense has played great all first half.”
While modest to his core, Gibson has aided his own cause with efficiency.
On the season, he’s held opposing hitters to a .202 batting average by relying a a six-pitch arsenal of a sinker, slider, changeup, cutter, four-seam fastball and a curveball.
His put away percentage with his sinker sits at 21.8 while his slider has netted a whiff percentage of 45.6. The slider has been his best put away pitch at 26.9 percent followed by the cutter at 22.2.
Gibson’s fastball has topped at 93.1 mph, which has proved problematic for hitters as the 6-foot-6 ace can drop velocity with a 79.4 mph curveball and deceive with a 92.5 mph sinker and 89.2 mph cutter.
So far, Gibson owns the lowest expected batting average of his career at .235, which measures the likelihood that a batted ball will become a hit.
Gibson’s turnaround has been impressive, especially after being unable to get out of the first inning for the first time in his career in more than 200 starts.
“Sometimes confidence follows a little bit of success. I try to not let my confidence be rooted in the results,” Gibson told The Associated Press in late June. “It’s something that I’ve learned over the years, is you can’t let your confidence be shaken by one start or anything like that.”
Through 15 games since the Rangers’ season opener, Gibson remains unbeaten with 10 no decisions, including on April 1.
His last victory unfolded on Saturday, June 26 as he totaled a season-best 10 strikeouts against Kansas City in Arlington through 7.0 innings to put the opener behind him during the Rangers’ 8-0 win.
On Tuesday, July 13, Gibson could be in line for his potential first MLB All-Star win, if the scenario arises.
Gibson is 1-0 at Colorado’s Coors Field, the site of the 2021 All-Star Game, and owns a career 2.84 ERA in 6.1 innings at the National League stadium.
Kyle Gibson: Game-By-Game Tracker
*Texas Rangers ace Kyle Gibson is unbeaten on the season at 6-0 with 81 strikeouts and owns an American League leading 1.98 ERA through 16 starts. Below is the Greenfield-native’s 2021 game-by-game results.
Date;Opp;Dec;IP;H;R;ER;BB;K;ERA
April 1;@KC;ND;0.1;4;5;5;3;1;135.00
April 7;TOR;W;6.0;6;0;0;1;8;7.11
April 13;@TB;W;7.0;4;2;1;2;3;4.05
April 18;BAL;ND;8.0;4;0;0;0;6;2.53
April 24;@CWS;ND;6.0;6;1;1;2;5;2.30
April 29;BOS;W;6.0;3;1;1;3;4;2.16
May 4;@MIN;ND;8.0;3;3;3;2;8;2.40
May 10;@SF;ND;6.0;4;1;1;2;6;2.28
May 16;@HOU;ND;7.0;4;2;2;2;3;2.32
May 21;HOU;ND;6.0;4;1;1;2;4;2.24
June 4;TB;W;5.1;5;0;0;0;5;2.06
June 9;SF;ND;6.0;4;2;2;2;5;2.13
June 15;@HOU; ND;6.0;7;1;1;1;3;2.09
June 21;OAK;W;5.1;5;2;2;3;3;2.17
June 26;KC;W;7.0;2;0;0;1;10;2.00
July 2;@SEA;ND;5.2;5;1;1;3;7;1.98
* Next start: vs. Detroit at Globe Life Field, Wednesday, 1:05 p.m.
