Rangers' Kevin Jepsen: Mentioned as closer option

Manager Jeff Banister included Jepsen when talking about his options to close games, T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reports. "We have a couple of guys we are comfortable closing out a game for us," the manager said. "[Keone] Kela, [Kevin] Jepsen, [Jake] Diekman ... these guys have shown the ability to close games for us. We have some options available to us."

Banister also mentioned Alex Claudio, the man who finished last season as the closer, but would like to use him up and down the inning spectrum. Jepsen, 33, appears to be on the outside of that group, but he did save 22 games in 2015 and 2016 for the Rays and Twins. The non-roster invitee was a pleasant surprise this spring, allowing two runs on five hits with no walks and nine strikeouts over 10.2 innings. The bullpen was a disaster in 2017, so anyone who gets outs consistently will pitch high-leverage situations.