Texas Rangers going young, but Shin-Soo Choo, Joey Gallo still playing. Here’s why.
Believe it or not, there was plenty to write about Sunday after the Texas Rangers’ fifth straight loss.
The outing by Jordan Lyles was his best of the season, as he allowed four runs in 6 1/3 innings. Yes, it’s pretty ugly that’s his best, but the Rangers need to see the right-hander make strides the rest of the season to build for 2021.
The offense doesn’t have much power, but it did Sunday with three home runs. Of course, each was a solo homer. Nevertheless, those balls were part of a game in which the Rangers hit many balls hard.
That’s a good sign.
The end result, though, had a familiar look to it.
Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 4-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners.
Staying put
Shin-Soo Choo isn’t getting any younger, but the players behind him on the Rangers’ roster are.
Joey Gallo is still young, but he’s not a rookie. He’s hitting .179 in his sixth season on a roster crowded with outfielders.
But while shortstop Elvis Andrus is finding more bench time and second baseman Rougned Odor will, too, once he comes off the injured list, Choo and Gallo have been mainstays in the going-younger Rangers lineup.
There’s a reason for each one.
Choo has been one of the Rangers’ steadiest hitters of late despite his meager .224 average. He is drawing walks and hitting balls hard when makes contact. Also, his at-bats are what manager Chris Woodward would like young hitters to emulate.
For now, until Willie Calhoun comes off the IL, Choo’s playing time is secure.
“I love what Choo’s doing,” he said. “One thing I want to make clear to these guys is you’re going to earn your playing time. I love Choo’s at-bats right now.”
Gallo keeps playing because the Rangers want to give him a chance to finish the season on a high enough not to launch him into the offseason on a positive note. He connected for a towering home run into the upper deck at T Mobile Park and has reached base in nine straight games.
He has three weeks to get his average above .200.
“He is struggling this year. I get it,” Woodward said. “But his talent and preparation and work, the way he competes, all check the boxes for me. I’d like to see him have more success this year just for his own personal sake just to know this isn’t going to spiral and create some disbelief in his mind that he can do what he did last year.
“I’m looking up at the baseball gods to kind of getting him going for the last 20 games and finish on a good note. “
Taveras, again
It’s getting a little embarrassing at this point to continue gushing over Leody Taveras, but the kid can play.
He makes the difficult plays in center field look routine and the really, really difficult plays look, well, routine. He did that again Sunday in the eighth inning as he took a home run away from Evan White.
It wasn’t a towering blast like the one Justin Turner hit at Globe Life Field that Taveras had time to run under before leaping to snag. White’s ball was more of a line drive, but Taveras still got to the wall in plenty of time to make his leaping catch.
“Leody makes every play like that look easy, even though it’s not,” Woodward said.
Offensively, Taveras swatted his second career home run and added a double. Both came while batting left-handed, his better side, and the Rangers want to see more from him as a righty hitter.
But what he’s doing in his first extended chance to play in the majors has left a favorable impression, even if he has a few obstacles to overcome before sticking to the roster.
Taveras turns 22 on Tuesday.
Better than it looks
A closer look at the numbers behind the number, things like exit velocity and chase rate, shows that the Rangers have had two good games at the plate even though they have scored six total runs in their past two losses.
The Rangers took five walks Sunday and made multiple hard outs. Catcher Jose Trevino, for instance, hit three balls harder than 90 mph and two over 100 mph but went didn’t get a hit.
Before Ronald Guzman homered in the ninth, he lined out in the fourth inning with an exit velocity of 103.6 mph. Taveras grounded out at 99.7 mph before his homer and double.
“I know we’ve had our struggles offensively, but today and yesterday, honestly, I liked our execution of our game plan,” Woodward said. “Today, we got some walks, we stayed in the strike zone, and when we hit it we hit it hard. I’ve got a lot of circles on my card that didn’t end up in hits. It’s one of those things where this year, for some reason, we’re having trouble finding holes, but I did like our consistency in our at-bats.”
The Rangers entered the game with the worst batting average (.213) in the majors, and they were last in the American League in home runs, runs and hits.
