3 Things To Improve All 30 Teams — The Texas Rangers
The 2021 Texas Rangers finished the season with a record of 60–102, good enough for last place in the AL West. Not wanting to settle for last again, they have spent $584,800,000 in free agency with key acquisitions being Corey Seager and Marcus Semien. It’s pretty much a given that they will be better in 2022 than they were in 2021, but we’ve come too far to turn back now. Let’s see what we can do to help the Rangers have a better record this year.
1. Let Corey Seager And Marcus Semien Cook
The 2021 Rangers were bad on both sides of the ball. Having a team OPS+ of 84 and a team ERA+ of 92 they were 16% worse than league average offensively and 8% worse than league average on the bump. 2 of their worst offensive contributers played 2B and SS for them the majority of last year and put up 87 and 85 OPS+ respectively. This year, that will look a little different.
The Rangers signed Marcus Semien, presumably, to play 2B. The 1 time All Star, Gold Glover, and Silver Slugger is coming off an age 30 season in which he hit .265/.334/.538 with a career high in homeruns at 45 and a 133 OPS+ over 724 plate appearances and 162 games. This could very well be the makings of being in a contract year, but only time will tell. The Rangers can still expect 25–30 homeruns and a full season’s worth of games from Semien.
The Rangers brought Corey Seager in to be their star player, their SS, and their face of the franchise. Coming off an age 27 season that was shortened due to injury, in only 95 games he hit .306/.394/.521 with 16 homeruns and a 145 OPS+ over 409 plate appearances. It’s been rare for Seager to play 150+ games in a single season, he’s only done so 1 time so far in his career, but over 162 games he projects to hit .297/.367/.504 with 26 homeruns and a 131 OPS+. Expect closer to 140 games and 20–24 homeruns from Seager.
Assuming that Semien’s 2021 production was legit and not just the product of being in a contract year and playing over his head, and getting at least 140 games from Seager, those 2 guys alone will add 6 wins to the Rangers total.
2. Consider Calling Jack Leiter Up Mid-Season If Still In Contention
With the 2nd pick of the 2021 MLB draft the Texas Rangers selected Jack Leiter out of Vanderbilt. The top pitcher available in the draft, he was coming off a collegiate season in which he pitched 110 innings, a career high for him in a single year, so the Rangers gave him the rest of the year off. He did get some time in Spring Training this year with the Rangers in which he pitched 1.2 innings over 1 game. He struck out 4 batters, but also gave up 2 hits, 2 walks, 1 homerun, and 3 runs all earned. He will be starting the 2022 season in the minor leagues.
Despite being drafted just last year, if the Rangers are still in contention come July and Leiter is dealing in the minors, they should not rule out calling him up for the stretch run. Leiter dominated in college, in the SEC no less, putting up a 2.08 ERA over 21 starts and 125.2 while striking out 201 of the 490 batters he faced. He has had some command issues which he can refine with time, but getting him up for the stretch run and injecting some youth into their rotation while also getting him some experience against Big League hitters could add an extra win to their total.
3. Hope That Jon Gray Pitches Better Now That He Will Rarely Pitch In Colorado
Coming into his age 30 season, pitcher Jon Gray has spent the first 7 years of his Major League career as a member of the Colorado Rockies. Gray has shown flashes of brilliance in the past, but he’s also been injury prone which could be a side effect of pitching in the thin air at Coors Field. Over his 7 year career, he has an ERA of 4.59 over 829.1 innings and 151 starts with 849 strikeouts and a 107 ERA+. The Rangers hope that those numbers will drastically improve this year.
Looking into Gray’s home/away splits, he’s actually been a better pitcher at home than he has on the road, but slightly. Over 74 starts at Coors Field, he has a 4.54 ERA over 416.2 innings. Over 77 starts on the road, he has a 4.65 ERA over 412.2 innings. They say the Coors hangover (Field that is, not beer) is real, and this could come from lingering effects of being so high above sea level. We do have 1 game to go off of that he pitched at Globe Life Field which is promising. Over 4.2 innings pitched there, he only gave up 1 run for an ERA of 1.93. For a guy of his calibur, it’s highly likely that an ERA like that is unsustainable. However, he could surprise us all and pitch to a low 3, high 2 ERA and contend for the AL Cy Young award. Should he do that, he’d add 6 wins to the Rangers total.
Semien and Seager raking for full seasons, Leiter potentially coming up for the stretch run, and Jon Gray giving us his best Robbie Ray impression would add 13 wins to the Rangers total. This would give them a record of 73–89. Still not in playoff contention compared to last year’s records, but a huge step in the right direction.
This has been the 28th entry in our series in which we take a look at all 30 teams individually and see what we can do to help them improve year over year. Previous entries include the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Guardians, the Colorado Rockies, the Detroit Tigers, the Houston Astros, the Kansas City Royals, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles, the Miami Marlins, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Minnesota Twins, the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, the Oakland Athletics, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the San Francisco Giants, the San Diego Padres, the Seattle Mariners, the St Louis Cardinals, and the Tampa Bay Rays. Follow me on Twitter @TroyBrock1993 for updates and other sports musings. Next up will be the Toronto Blue Jays!
