That’s right, baseball fans. Heading into the final day of action in week 10 of Major League play, there were only eight clubs that had winning percentages above .500 on the road. The Texas Rangers lead the pack when it comes to out of town success. They are 20-14 on the season as of Sunday.
Given that the Rangers are only 2.5 games back of the Houston Astros from leading the AL West and they are the only team within the division regularly winning on the road, this is kind of a big deal.
Yu Darvish has not pitched for the Rangers in 2015. Derek Holland has thrown one inning and is not expected to return to the rotation until July or August. Needless to say, Texas is grinding out wins this season thanks mostly to their bats.
Carrying them over the last month has been designated hitter Prince Fielder, a clear front-runner right now for AL Comeback Player of the Year. Over the past 30 days, the hulking DH leads the American League with 23 RBI, is tied for third in hits and ranks sixth in OPS.
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This club was devastated last year by injuries. Under a microscope, 2015 has only mildly been more kind. As mentioned, Darvish and Holland have been irrelevant and top prospect Jurickson Profar‘s career may be in jeopardy after being in line to miss his second straight full season. Adrian Beltre has not been his usual consistent self and injuries have allowed him to only play in 51 games so far this year.
It’s been two prospects providing added punch to the Rangers’ offense so far in 2015. An eighth overall pick in the 2010 MLB draft, outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. has been outstanding hitting atop the Texas lineup. He began getting everyday starts in early May and is slashing an impressive .268/.358/.387 as a 22-year-old rookie. The OBP number is key here, as he has been setting Fielder up with multiple RBI opportunities, also thanks in part to his 12-for-13 stolen base success rate. He’s scored more runs than any other Ranger this year with 32.
Having spent a shorter amount of time with the big league club but starting his MLB career with more of a bang is Joey Gallo. His power stroke was compared regularly to Kris Bryant‘s last year. He hit 42 homers across two levels of the minors in 2014 to Bryant’s 43. It took Bryant 21 games and over 70 at-bats to swat his first long ball with the Cubs, but it took Gallo only his first game and second big league at-bat to drive one over the fence.
Rumors are that once Beltre is activated, Gallo will be reassigned. But with the way he is playing right now, the Rangers can’t afford to demote him just yet. If he cools off tremendously, then maybe. Gallo is hitting .300/.391/.625 through 11 games with four homers and seven RBI. The 6-foot-5, 230 pound behemoth is even 2-for-2 on stolen base attempts this season despite having only 29 total in three seasons playing on the farm.
Texas Rangers
As a team, the Texas Rangers rank second in the AL in runs scored and seventh in batting average. Pitching wise, the staff has both the fourth worst ERA in the AL at 4.08 and BAA at .258. It’s clear they are getting by on their hitting, similarly to the Toronto Blue Jays. It’s possible to make the postseason with hot hitting, but it’s tough to win a World Series without stout pitching. Both the Rangers and Jays are creeping up on leading their respective divisions. If that’s still the case a month from now, both clubs need to be buyers before the July 31 trade deadline.
Don’t forget either, that Josh Hamilton has a chance to get healthy and hot in the second half. If that happens, this offense will be even more threatening to opposing pitching and defenses.
Texas is currently 13-16 at home and are plus 11 in run differential. They face the Dodgers to start this week off, with two games at home then two in Los Angeles for inter-league play. After that, they’re on the road for three versus the White Sox and host the A’s for three before traveling to Rogers Centre to play baseball’s hottest team in Toronto for a three game set. Expect there to be a lot of activity in the box score for the June 26-28 series.
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