The Texas Rangers used their lethal offense and solid starting pitching to maintain the AL West lead into the All-Star break. The Rangers spent the first half of the season hammering teams with a deep, powerful lineup. Corey Seager has been the best player on the offense. He has been putting up MVP tier numbers since returning from his pulled hamstring. Seager bats second daily and has improved his defense.
Seager’s partner in crime is Marcus Semien. Semien has put up solid numbers in the 1st half, but could have a higher OPS considering what he is being asked to do. He leads off every day. He is too streaky and does not walk enough. His cold stretches are highly correlated with the Rangers’ worst parts of the season. He might have made the All-Star Team, but Semien has slightly underperformed this season.
Nate Lowe has also been somewhat disappointing too this season. Despite having the best lineup protection in baseball, his offensive stats are underwhelming. He has improved his defense significantly though.
Josh Jung has been electric at third. He has improved his defense and turned into a legitimate top end hitter at the position. He has a good eye and hits for power. Consistent quality ABs.
Jonah Heim has been great behind the dish. He plays great defense and hits over .300. Heim faded down the stretch last season; he needs to remain in peak condition down the stretch for the Rangers to have a chance this year. Mitch Garver backs up Heim. He cannot play defense or stay healthy.
Adolis Garcia has been great this season. He is an RBI machine that plays great defense. Leody Taveras has finally emerged as a legit big league hitter. He plays a rangy CF too. Robbie Grossman and Travis Jankowski have been somewhat useful in the outfield. Jankowski is fast and Grossman patient. Ezequiel Duran has been a huge surprise and bright spot for the Rangers offense this season. He has pop and has really helped fill the holes in the outfield. The Rangers offense has employed a next man up approach. They have not relied on one or two people, but bludgeon teams with a coordinated assault in the games where they are successful. Obviously having a deep lineup as opposed to a shallow one is preferable; but the Rangers do not have the consistent star power to maintain this torrid offensive pace. Jung is legit. Seager is a star. Lowe and Semien have been disappointing but still decent. Garcia is a star. But the others? Garver cannot stay healthy and Heim faded hard down the stretch last season. The Rangers are vulnerable at catcher despite Heim being an All-Star. Duran has been exceptional but lacks a true defensive position. It is asking a lot out of a player like that to carry an offense in September. Grossman and Jankowski have been assets but will normalize down to their true ability. The offense has put up significant numbers during the first half of the regular season but lacks playoff experience and fails the eye test. The offense is too prone to being shut down and going cold. This is due to Semien being streaky and Lowe being mid. This offense has put up a ton of empty runs in walkover games during garbage time. This has inflated their team run total and run differential. The offense is not top tier like the numbers suggest. It is merely good and will regress as the experienced Astros regain Altuve and Alvarez. The Astros are only back by 2 games despite underperforming and dealing with injuries throughout the first half of the season. The Astros seem too big to fail, it really goes to show how fast things can slip away during a baseball season. The Rangers grinded week after week to keep the lead during the first half only to slop their way into the break.
The Rangers have gotten great starting pitching this season. Starting pitching is the bread and butter of baseball and the Rangers finally got some this season.
Jacob deGrom – The best pitcher in baseball made 6 brilliant starts before blowing his arm out. He is on the shelf for 18 months.
Nathan Eovaldi – The former Red Sox ace has been leaned on heavily since Jake went down. Eovaldi leads the AL in IP with 117.2. His month of May was incredible. He stepped up big when it really mattered. He carried hardest when Jake went down and the team truly needed him most. He went extra deep into games to help the terrible bullpen be shielded. This workload showed in his most 5 recent starts, where he looked less effective. Hopefully the Break helped him rest up. The baseball season is called a marathon for a reason and Eovaldi had a significant shoulder injury last season.
Andrew Heaney – The slider spinning lefty has managed to stay healthy and show off his incredibly filthy stuff in small bursts. He is very prone to the blowup start and suffers from inconsistency.
Jon Gray – Gray has been great when at 100%, just like last season. If you take away the 4 or so starts where he was banged up his numbers really shine. The exact same thing can be said about him last season. When Gray feels sharp and healthy he borders on being elite.
Martin Perez has regressed as expected. Just like Eovaldi, he looked particularly weak in his last 5 starts.
Dane Dunning – Dunning took over for deGrom in the rotation after dominating from the bullpen early in the season. Dunning has truly taken the next step as a pitcher and has become Dane Stunning. Dunning developing is one of those win conditions the Rangers had going into his season that would need to hit for them to make the playoffs. The rotation performed well considering deGrom’s injury. Like the offense, it looks to regress down the stretch drive as the experienced Astros flex their muscles. The Rangers really need pitching help at the deadline, because the bullpen was never good at any point during the season. They traded lefty pitcher Cole Ragans for Aroldis Chapman a few weeks ago. The Rangers are showing they are serious about winning, but need pitching help to do so as usual.
The bullpen has been the biggest weakness of the Rangers this season by far. Lefty closer Will Smith has been exceptional. Lefty Brock Burke has been good. Grant Anderson is a righty sidewinder with live stuff despite his rookie status. Thus concludes the bright spots in the bullpen.
Jose Leclerc forgot how to pitch completely. The former All-Star lost his command and spent the first half of this season finding it. His buddy Jonathan Hernandez was never able to and was sent down. Josh Sborz has nasty stuff and no idea where it is going. John King gets blown up in most of his appearances. Cody Bradford is a young lefty who has started a couple games. He has potential and solid control.
The other names in this bullpen cause the stomach to turn. Many have since been demoted or traded. Cole Ragans was dumped to the hapless Royals. Ian Kennedy was released into a nursing home. Glenn Otto is a joke that looks like he will never develop, just like Spencer Howard who is also on this list. The bullpen is what is holding this team back. The Rangers will fall off a bit down the stretch, losing the division lead but making the playoffs through the Wild Card slot.
Upcoming Schedule – All Times Central
7/14 vs Guardians – 7:05 p.m.
7/15 vs Guardians – 3:05 p.m.
7/16 vs Guardians – 1:35 p.m.
7/17 vs Rays – 7:05 p.m.
7/18 vs Rays – 7:05 p.m.
7/19 vs Rays – 1:05 p.m.
7/21 vs Dodgers – 7:05 p.m.
7/22 vs Dodgers – 3:05 p.m.
7/23 vs Dodgers – 1:35 p.m.
