Rangers sit in great position after stellar month of May

The Texas Rangers enter the month of June with a quarter of their season behind them and in a much better position than most fans could have imagined. After a rough month of April in which they went just 7-14, it looked like it might be another long summer for Rangers fans, but their recent play has suggested otherwise.

Texas fans came into the season with the most optimism they’ve had in quite some time, after an offseason in which the front office added not one, but two MVP caliber-type players in Marcus Semien and Corey Seager. With an explosive offense, the overall projections of the team were to be questioned, but one thing was sure, whether the team was winning games or not, they would at least hit, score runs and be a fun team to watch.

Unfortunately for fans, 21 games later, the Rangers entered their second month of play with a lot to be left to desire. For starters, the slugging second basemen they spent $175 million on was batting an anemic .157 and still had yet to hit his first home run of the year.

While the slugging Seager was batting .256 with four home runs, the offense was still not seeing production from players they were relying on, including Adolis Garcia and Kole Calhoun. Garcia was one of the few positives from the 2021 season and Calhoun was brought in with the exaction to hot pop to the lineup, yet 21 games into the season Garcia was batting .195, while Calhoun was even worse, batting .164.

In the first month the team saw a five-game losing streak in the middle part of month and a four-game losing streak to end the month. For a lot of fans, they rightfully so began to wonder if this was going to be another long summer of watching their ball club struggle.

The team opened the second month of play on a much different note, starting things off with a four-game winning streak. In that span the team outscored their opponents 18-9, showing both how explosive they can be offensively, while also showing signs of optimism from their pitching staff, which entered the season with little-to-no expectations.

After going .500 over the next week, Texas answered back with another four-game streak, taking the series finale agains the Boston Red Sox and sweeping the Los Angeles Angels. The offensive was once again explosive, scoring 30 runs over the course of those four games, while only allowing 15 runs.

Just one week later the Rangers would have their third four-game winning streak of the season, taking a series finale against the Angels, before winning the first three games of their series against the Oakland A’s. With yet another 30 runs to show in their four games, the pitching allowed just 12 runs this time, with both the offense and pitching getting more impressive each time.

On the final day of May, Texas went into a game against the Tampa Bay Rays with an opportunity to do something nobody expected this deep into the season, the chance to reach the .500 mark. The Rangers went into that game in the best position possible, with veteran pitcher Martin Perez on the mound. Perez, who pitched for Texas from 2012-2018 and was added again as a flyer, was the most reliable member of the rotation to that point and proved to have yet another dominant outing.

Perez had one of his best outings of the season Tuesday, throwing seven shutout innings while allowing just three hits, no walks and striking out five. The offense backed him up with two runs driven in by Garcia and a solo shot from Seager, as the bullpen finished off the shutout, giving the team a 3-0 win and a 24-24 record.

Over the course of May, Texas went 16-10 and had their first winning month since June 2019, when they went 18-11. They were led by an offense that found it’s way and Perez, who was named American League Pitcher of the Month. 

Perez had arguably the best month of his entire career, winning just his second American League Pitcher of the Month award in his career and his first since April 2014. Perez became the first AL pitcher to throw at least 40 innings without allowing a home run since Clay Bucholz did so in June 2015 and he did so while allowing batters to hit just .195 against him.

In that same span, Texas also began to see offensive production from players they hadn’t in the opening month. Semien finally hit his first home run and is slowly seeing his average begin to get closer to a reasonable mark. Calhoun saw the biggest jump, having seven home runs, 20 RBI and an average of .260 as of Thursday, not to mention a slugging of .453 and an OPS of .770. 

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the season has been the production they’ve seen from the catcher position. The Rangers acquired Mitch Garver in the offseason, a man who is considered to be a top-5 hitting catcher in the league. While Garver has been more than serviceable, he’s played in just 32 of the 49 games, giving opportunities for others to shine. 

Those opportunities were given to Jonah Heim, who is in his second season with the team, and Sam Huff, a once top prospect for the organization. Huff, who is 24 and seeing his first big league action, has been a highly coveted slugger in the Rangers farm system and a player fans have had their eyes on for the last few years.

What the two have done with the opportunities to this point have been beyond anybody’s wildest expectations. Huff, while just having 44 at bats so far, is hitting a very impressive .386 and has what would be team-leading OPS of .913, though he does not have enough at bats to qualify. With just one home run so far, the slugging 24-year-old is still showing plenty of the pop that excited fans when he was hitting multiple 500-foot homers in the minors.

Heim has also beyond met expectations, rocking one of the highest averages on the team at .255. He also has the second-highest WAR of any Rangers position player at 1.1, showing he his making a positive impact on the team and making the most of the opportunities he has been given.

The pair of done such a good job filling-in behind that plate that they are still seeing action even since Garver has returned from injury. There’s a feeling within the organization that the two might continue to hold down the fort behind the plate while Garver gets starts as a DH and a first base, as the two have hit too well to not have in the lineup.

What’s perhaps been the most pleasant surprise of the season, as we close in on the 1/3 mark of the season has been the pitching. While Texas made plenty of additions to improve their offense, on paper, the pitching staff still lacked a good bit to be desired. 

Fans, including myself, spent the off-season joking that the team would be fun to watch, as both teams would be scoring runs. Forty-nine games into the season, the pitching staff has made those of us who joked eat our words. 

The Rangers currently rank 15th in the league with a team ERA of 3.81, a mark that is a full point higher than it was last season, when they finished with a team ERA of 4.80, which with was the seventh worst in the league.

We’ve mentioned plenty of how much of an impact Perez has made, though it isn’t just him who is carrying this pitching staff. The bullpen, which many worried could be one of the worst in all of baseball, has done an incredible job this season, holding late leads and giving the offense opportunities to win ball games.

The Rangers pitching staff currently features eight pitchers with an ERA of 3.50 or lower, including four who are under the 2.00 mark.

Reliever Dennis Santana has arguably been the focal point, carrying an ERA of 1.53 in 19 appearances. While Santana only has nine strikeouts in 17.2 innings pitched, he simply isn’t allowing batters to get on base, sporting a WHIP of 0.57. 

Right there with him are a handful of other names, including closer Joe Barlow. Barlow is 9-0 in save opportunities, as well as striking out 17 batters in 17.1 innings pitched. The 26-year-old righty has allowed just three earned runs, giving him an ERA of 1.56 and a WHIP of 0.92.

Other standouts are Brock Burke and John King, who have a combined 35 appearances. Both Burke and King have been very efficient as well, allowing just 10 runs in a combined 45 innings pitched between the two of them. Matt Bush, who also had former stints with Texas, is also pitching as well as he ever has, rocking an ERA of 3.38 in 21 outings.

Each of these players, between Perez, Santana, Barlow, Burke, King and Bush were all pitchers who had little expectations from national and even local media, yet have played huge roles in the Rangers success. While it’s still early in the season, Texas finds themselves in a position to have a much different season than anybody could’ve expected.

With a record of 24-25 after Wednesday’s loss, Texas sits just 2.5 games out of a wildcard spot, which could lead to their biggest asset, which is their farm system. The Rangers have what ESPN ranks as the ninth best farm system in the league, one that both has big name top prospects, as well as strong organizational depth.

If Texas continues to find themselves in the playoff race in another month, this could drastically change how they approach the trade deadline. With plenty of trade assets, the Rangers could decide to go ahead and make a move for big league talent that could help now, opposed to waiting to see where they’re at next season.

Not only do the Rangers have the assets to make moves, they also have a front office who has proven in recent years they can be trusted to make the right moves. Last season when they decided to trade slugger Joey Gallo, fans were disappointed with the return they got. Not even a full year later, it is apparent the Rangers did in fact win the trade, receiving Josh Smith, Ezeuiel Duran, Trevor Hauver and Glenn Otto, all of which are Top-30 prospects in the Rangers system, with both Smith and Duran being ranked in the Top-10.

Some of which are already making contributions on the big league squad. Smith was recently called up to make his big league debut and his currently 3-for-6. Otto has also been good early, making seven starts for the team, two of which where quality starts, meaning he went at least six innings and allowed three runs or less. 

The front office duo of Jon Daniels and Chris Young proved they can make great trades when in a position to sell. If the team continues to win games and keep themselves in distance of a wildcard spot, they very well may get the opportunity to prove how they do as buyers. With one such trade under their belt, when they acquired Garver for infield utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa, the duo could see themselves making even bigger moves than that come the trade deadline in late July.

Whether the Rangers recent success is sustainable or not will have to be seen. To expect them to have another month of 16-10 ball is probably unrealistic, but what it does show is this team is much closer to finding themselves in postseason action than most people assumed. 

To this point Texas has had the fifth toughest schedule in the league and has been winning without getting near the production they thought they would from their superstars. If the top guys can continue to get back to their expected level, and their role players can continue to “overachieve” this very well could be the fun summer fans signed up for in March.