Rangers notes: Leonys Martin’s struggles could cost him playing time

It’s yet another crucial moment for Rangers center fielder Leonys Martin.

His batting average has dipped to .223 after reaching a season-high of .255 on June 14.

In that 11-game span, he’s grounded out to the right side 16 times and has 14 strikeouts. He’s hitting a measly .128 over the past two weeks.

With Josh Hamilton likely returning Monday in Baltimore and Delino DeShields beginning his rehab assignment Saturday with Double A Frisco, Martin’s playing time could soon be in jeopardy.

That would be a last resort, of sorts, for manager Jeff Banister, who would prefer to keep Martin’s reliable defense in center field.

“This is a production-based business,” Banister said. “But I try to look deeper than just the performance.”

That includes looking at how a slumping hitter is making his outs. Martin is a better hitter when he’s sending the ball up the middle or to the opposite field. But in recent games, Martin’s previous tendency of trying to pull everything has returned. In his first at-bat Friday night, he grounded out to second, although it did drive in a run.

In his past 12 games, Martin has walked only twice, including once intentionally. He only has 12 walks in 251 plate appearances this season.

“What I would rather see is consistency of the approach, getting back to keeping the ball in the middle of the field,” Banister said. “That’s what we need from Leonys — to be able to utilize the bunt, drive the ball in the middle of the field and draw some walks.”

Banister and Martin discussed his approach after Thursday’s game — in which he went 0 for 4 with two groundouts to second, a strikeout and a pop out to third.

“You can see where the swing has kind of become not what he would like for it to be,” Banister said. “And he knows that. We had that conversation Thursday. He’s working hard to get himself back to that.”

Canadian debut

Yovani Gallardo will make his first start at Rogers Centre on Saturday. He was with the Milwaukee Brewers a year ago when they played in Toronto, but the right-hander never took the mound.

He’s not concerned about his ground-laden game being affected by the speedy artificial turf.

“There’s nothing you can do,” he said. “You get ground balls. If they go for base hits, they go for base hits. It’s not like you say I’m going to try to get them to hit it in the air.”

As well as he’s been pitching lately, the turf may not be an issue. Gallardo has allowed only two earned runs in his past 25 innings.

“I’ve been feeling really good throughout the year,” he said. “The last few starts, I’ve been in a pretty good rhythm and been able to command my off-speed pitches. I think that’s really been important.”

Harrison up close

Matt Harrison is close to being available for the Rangers (his rehab stint ends July 2), so he made the trip to Toronto to throw a couple bullpen sessions for Banister and pitching coach Mike Maddux.

He threw about 35 pitches Friday and will throw 15 to 20 on Sunday before joining Triple A Round Rock in Iowa for his final rehab start.

Harrison said his final rehab start is likely to be a shorter stint, around 70 pitches.

Key stat

300 Home runs for Prince Fielder, who hit his 12th of the season to right field in the first inning Friday.

He and his father, Cecil (309 homers), join Barry and Bobby Bonds as the only father-son duo to each have 300-plus homers. Fielder is the 138th player to hit at least 300 career homers, including 12 active players.

This story was originally published June 26, 2015 at 7:44 PM with the headline "Rangers notes: Leonys Martin’s struggles could cost him playing time."