García wins club honor for monster May

While the Rangers struggled to an 11-17 record in May, outfielder Adolis García excelled individually.

García, who was the unanimous selection for the Texas Rangers May Player of the Month, slashed .312/.348/.633 with 11 home runs and 27 RBIs through 28 games last month. From walk-off homers against an in-state rival to leaping catches for home run robberies, García has been the club’s most exciting player.

“How do you not celebrate it?” said manager Chris Woodward. “This guy's been unbelievable. What he's doing right now, we all have to celebrate it. Everybody's happy for him, and you know they're trying to feed off of that. What he's doing is representative of a lot of the things that we preach.”

García said he doesn’t think about the individual accolades a lot, as he’s just trying to help the team win and do everything possible to make that happen.

Rangers slugger Joey Gallo said it’s been fun hitting behind García and watching the opposing catchers and umpires react when hits another home run or works another quality at-bat.

Gallo and Woodward both emphasized how lucky the Rangers are to have García.

“We talk about the team a lot obviously, but you are an individual amongst a team,” Woodward said. “It’s your job as a team player to do the best that you can possibly do individually. Baseball is a beautiful sport in that regard. We should definitely celebrate when guys are having monster years or great months because they're obviously helping their team win.”

Off-day reset

The Rangers have had five off-days this season and have lost every game after an off-day.

Woodward has mentioned in the past that he didn’t like the off-days because they interrupted any momentum the team may have had in the previous series. Woodward has been up-front with those struggles, but thinks that Monday’s off-day was a good day to reset following a sweep in Seattle, bringing Texas’ road losing streak to 12 games.

Woodward said everybody came in after the off-day with a little bit of an edge hoping to end the streak. The entire team came into training Tuesday in good spirits and ready to work.

“We’ve got to force this thing,” he said. “This is a challenge because I know how hard these guys are working. I know how hard our staff is working. I know they're playing hard. Nobody in that locker room has quit. So, it hurts to not see them have success because they feel like they deserve it.”

Rangers Minor League pitcher suspended

Low-A Down East right-handed pitcher and Rangers prospect Mason Englert has been suspended for 10 games by Major League Baseball for having a foreign substance detected on his belt during his start on May 30. He was ejected in the fourth inning of that game.

“We support the decision made by Major League Baseball,” said Rangers assistant general manager Mike Daly. “This is a learning experience for Mason and will help us to educate the pitchers in our Minor League system.”

Englert, a fourth-round pick by the Rangers in the 2018 Draft, has posted a 4.60 ERA in four starts for the Wood Ducks this season. This season was his professional debut after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2019.