Tyler Rogers

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Tyler Scott Rogers

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Biographical Information[edit]

Pitcher Tyler Rogers is the twin brother of Taylor Rogers.

He was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 10th round of the 2013 amateur draft, out of Austin Peay State University. He has been used exclusively as a reliever in the minor leagues, where he has put up some very good ERA's: 2.30 in 20 games between the AZL Giants and Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in 2013; 1.91 in 56 games between the Augusta GreenJackets and San Jose Giants in 2014; 1.47 in 42 games for San Jose in 2015. During that run he has been involved in few decisions and was rarely used to close games either. His largest number of decision was when he went 5-2 between San Jose and the AA Richmond Flying Squirrels in 2015, in 523 games. Tyler's appearances with Richmond were his first above Class A. He had an ERA of 5.91 in 10 games, but those only amounted to 10 2/3 innings, and his K/W ratio was still a solid 15/5 during that span.

He returned to Richmond to start the 2016 season and after putting up a sparkling ERA of 0.77 with 10 saves in 35 games, he was promoted to AAA for the first time. He had a much rougher time with the Sacramento River Cats of the Pacific Coast League with an ERA of 6.10 in 24 games. He also made his first start as a professional with Sacramento that year. In 2017, he spent the entire season with Sacramento and went 4-4, 2.37 in 55 games, picking up 10 saves. In 2018, his ERA was a minute 2.13 in 51 games, and he had 3 saves while going 3-2 and striking out 60 batters in 67 2/3 innings. Still, he was not called up to the majors. By that point, he was ready to call it a career, and look for an opportunity to qualify as a firefighter, but his opportunity finally came at the end of the 2019 season, which he again started in Sacramento. He was 4-2, 4.21 in 49 games with 5 saves when he got the call. He had an excellent last month with the Giants, going 2-0, 1.02 in 17 games, allowing just 12 hits and 3 walks in 17 2/3 innings, while striking out 16.

He then settled into being one the best and busiest relievers in the majors, leading the National League in games pitched in both the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, with 29, and in 2021, with 80. He recorded 3 saves the first year, while going 3-3, 4.50, then had an outstanding season the second, going 7-1, 2.22 with 13 saves as the Giants won a completely unexpected division title. After striking out just under a batter per inning his first two seasons, his strikeout rate dropped significantly in 2020, to 55 in 81 innings, but it did not affect results given he was really after forcing ground ball outs from opponents. He appeared in 4 of the 5 games the Giants played against the Los Angeles Dodgers in a tightly-fought Division Series, picking up a win while not allowing a run in 3 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, the Giants were eliminated by their eternal rivals.

On April 11, 2022, he suffered his first loss of the season, 4-2 against the San Diego Padres; what was unusual was that his twin brother Taylor was now pitching for the Friars and picked up the save in the game. It was the first time the two had faced each other, and also the first time in major league history that twin brothers had pitched for opposite teams in the same game. In fact, they were just just the 5th set of twins to ever appear in a major league game, the last having been Jose Canseco and Ozzie Canseco back in 1990. He went 3-4, 3.57 in 68 games that season. In 2023, he was joined on the team by his twin brother, who signed on as a free agent during the off-season. they were the first pair of brother to pitch for one team since Mickey Mahler and Rick Mahler with the 1979 Atlanta Braves.

In spite of being taller than average, he does not throw particularly hard and relies on an extreme submarine delivery to get batters out, which explains why it took him so long to get his first shot at major league batters. His delivery sees him twist his body completely to the side and have his right arm almost perpendicular to the ground, with his knuckles just above the ground when he delivers the ball. He was mainly an infielder in high school - his brother and Mark Shannon were the main pitchers for the team - but he got a chance to see what he could do on the mound when he went to junior college. He was a conventional pitcher at first, but was encouraged by his coach to try the underhand style and he had a very good second season, earning a scholarship to Austin Peay State where he became a dominant closer.

He keeps his pitches extremely low and induces a huge amount of ground balls, as opponents find it very difficult to hit his offerings with much power in spite of their lack of velocity (his fastball sits below 83 mph). His average release point is only one foot above the ground, the lowest ever measured by Statcast­, but from there he can also throw a slider with tremendous movement, that will sometimes rise all the way to a batter's eyeballs, a pitch that is particularly effective against left-handed batters who cannot get comfortable against his offerings as a result. Strangely enough, even though he and Taylor are identical twins, they couldn't be more different in terms of pitching style, as Taylor is a lefthander who uses a conventional motion.

Notable Achievements[edit]

  • 3-time NL Games Pitched Leader (2020, 2021 & 2024)

Further Reading[edit]

  • "Austin Peay State University Baseball’s Tyler Rogers One of the Best Closers in the Game", Clarksville Online, May 14, 2013. [1]
  • David Adler: "The submariner with a 'UFO' rising slider", mlb.com, July 13, 2023. [2]
  • AJ Cassavell and Maria Guardado: "Taylor Rogers 'in a weird spot' after earning save as twin Tyler takes loss", mlb.com, April 12, 2022. [3]
  • Scott Chiusano: "They are identical twins. They have identical stats, too?", mlb.com, August 10, 2023. [4]
  • Matt Kelly: "Why this submariner could reach great heights", mlb.com, July 8, 2020. [5]

Related Sites[edit]