Taveras just might be the Rangers' best-kept secret

ARLINGTON -- Leody Taveras remembers crowding around a TV in the Dominican Republic at 6 years old, watching his cousin Willy Taveras help the Astros make the World Series in 2005 by manning center field at Minute Maid Park.

Eighteen years later, Leody smashed his first postseason home run at the same park on Sunday in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. The Rangers’ switch-hitting center fielder is following in the footsteps of his cousin and doing it against Willy’s former club.

Before Taveras made his postseason debut this October, Willy told him not to do too much.

“Not try to be the hero, specifically. That's what he's told me,” Taveras said through interpreter Will Nadal.

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As Texas went on a seven-game winning streak to begin the playoffs, Taveras has become one of the club’s unsung heroes by doing exactly that: letting the game come to him.

Through his first seven games, the 25-year-old has drawn six walks in 29 plate appearances (20.7%), compared to just 35 walks in 554 regular-season plate appearances (6.3%).

The increased plate discipline has come with more pitches to hit. One day after hitting the solo shot in Game 1, Taveras added a triple in Game 2 on Monday -- along with two free passes -- to increase his playoff OPS through seven games to 1.092. Not too shabby for a No. 9-hole hitter.

“I think that we really had a plan at the beginning of the season,” Taveras said. “I think it's also the way I've been feeling at the plate when I've come up to my turn.”

Just like the second-half Rangers, who alternated between winning and losing streaks, Taveras is prone to high highs and low lows at the plate.

After jumping between Triple-A and the Majors for two seasons after his big league debut in 2020, the center fielder got his first extended look in ‘22. He started off hot (.856 OPS in June/ July) and ended cold (.528 OPS in August/September).

The same thing happened in 2023 when Taveras returned from a left oblique strain in April: a strong first half combined with a second-half slump. This time around, however, Taveras managed to turn things around in September.

“It’s just the natural journey of a season. Mechanics will break down,” bench coach Donnie Ecker said. “Then I think the real test to players up here is that they can make adjustments and get back to moving well. That’s what we saw when September came. [Taveras] made some adjustments to his lower half, got his [bat] path back and just kind of took off.”

Experiencing the rollercoaster of his 2022 season has given Taveras perspective. He emphasized the importance of doing the same thing the whole year, sticking to the plan he and the team made at the beginning of the season.

“I just kept working at it, working every single day,” Taveras said. “I've understood that's a part of the game, the slumps.”

His strong September has carried into the playoffs and helped lengthen a dangerous Rangers lineup. Taveras said he takes pride in getting on base as the No. 9 hitter for Marcus Semien and Corey Seager.

Nowhere was that depth more apparent than in the first two games of the ALCS. In Game 1, just a half-inning after Astros catcher and No. 9 hitter Martín Maldonado struck out with the bases loaded, Taveras smashed his homer.

Houston values Maldonado for his game planning and defense as the backstop. Taveras is similarly a strong defender in center field and also a baserunning threat, with three stolen bases in the postseason.

But Taveras has managed to add an extra element to his game at the plate and deliver on the promise he brought as a much-heralded prospect after signing for $2.1 million in 2015. MLB Pipeline ranked him as Texas’ No. 1 prospect as early as 2017 -- calling him a “legitimate five-tool center fielder.”

It might’ve taken a few years longer than the Rangers and Taveras imagined, but he is living up to that potential on the postseason stage.

“It's an honor to be here, especially as a homegrown player,” Taveras said.