Texas Rangers could face personnel challenges in coming weeks

If the Texas Rangers’ hot-hitting Nomar Mazara continues his torrid pace, the Rangers will have some personnel decisions to make.

Among the early storylines to emerge from the first two weeks of the baseball season, hot starts by rookies have been among the major Trevor Story lines—that’s the one and only pun, I promise. In addition to Story, Houston Astros first baseman Tyler White and Texas Rangers outfielder Nomar Mazara are also having huge impacts.

Mazara’s hot start has more far-reaching ramifications than the other two. That’s because over the next few weeks, the Rangers may find they have a logjam on their hands.

Mazara was called up from Triple-A on April 10 after Shin-Soo Choo went down with a calf injury. Currently, he is hitting .440 with a .452 on-base percentage and is slugging .593. He is also sixth among rookies at 188 weighted runs created plus.

If Mazara wasn’t playing so well it would be easy for the Rangers to send Mazara back to Triple-A when Choo was ready to come off the disabled list. There is still at least three weeks until Choo is healthy, and Mazara could cool off, but if Mazara is still playing well a month from now, the Rangers would have a hard time justifying sending him back to the minors.

There are more pieces involved in this potential logjam than just Mazara and Choo. Again, it’s still early, but consider: Ian Desmond has been punchless at the plate, batting just .109/.180/.289; Josh Hamilton is supposed to be healthy sometime in May; Mitch Moreland and Prince Fielder are also off to slow starts; the Rangers are rumored to be scanning the trade market for a catcher; and Joey Gallo and Lewis Brinson, two of the Rangers’ best prospects, are bashing minor league pitching but are blocked by the current makeup of the roster.

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Some of those issues could resolve themselves over the next few weeks. If it becomes obvious that Desmond and Hamilton aren’t going to provide any notable value, the Rangers will simply give more playing time to Mazara. Or, if Mazara cools off, he goes back to the minors.

If everyone plays up to expectations, however, the Ragners will have the (fortunate) problem of possessing too many bats. As it stands, most of those bats are left handed. Fielder, Hamilton, Moreland, Choo, Mazara and Gallo are all lefties, and all of them are better hitters against right-handed pitchers than they are southpaws. That takes platoons out of the equation.

This issue could also resolve itself as the trade deadline approaches. The Rangers have been looking to upgrade at catcher for months now, and they repeatedly have been linked to the Brewers’ Jonathan Lucroy. In those discussions, Gallo’s name usually comes up as the centerpiece of the deal.

But Gallo is a hefty price to pay for a year-and-a-half of Lucroy, who has a team option on his contract for the 2017 season. If the Rangers wanted to keep Gallo, who is slugging .778 with four home runs in Triple-A, they could flip Moreland to a team in need of a left-handed power bat such as the Pirates or White Sox. If the White Sox, who are 8-4 on the season, are still in contention come July, they could use Moreland in the role Adam LaRoche was supposed to fill.

Trading Moreland would open the door for Gallo to play first base regularly. The Rangers extended Adrian Beltre for two years, which means Gallo will only play third base, his natural position, if Beltre shows his age or gets injured.

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Brinson is the least likely to be affected by this shuffle. A scorching performance would warrant a promotion to the big leagues, but with the glut of outfielders, it would make little sense to start Brinson’s service clock.

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