Inbox: Can the Rangers hold on in the AL West?

August 27th, 2023

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

For much of the season, the American League West has seemed like the Rangers’ to lose.

Well, they had it. And they lost it.

The Rangers had been in sole possession of first place for 111 days (since May 5), and alone or tied atop the division for 147 of the season’s first 148 days (exception: April 8).

All of that work went down the drain in less than two weeks, despite a season-high eight-game win streak to begin August. Instead, they matched it with an eight-game losing streak, finally ending it on Saturday, to fall even with a streaking Mariners squad, who also jumped the Astros to move up from third place.

Now the Rangers and Mariners are tied for first place atop the division, with Houston creeping behind in the standings.

With a little more than a month of regular-season baseball left, here’s an inbox answering your questions related to the Rangers’ recent collapse and what they can do to get out of it.

Should the Rangers consider scoring more runs than their opponents? Like, is that a solid strategy to help the eight-game skid? Thanks! -- @MikeTaddow
I know this is a joke, but the offense has been severely lacking throughout the recent skid, including some of the best hitters in Texas’ lineup going through their own struggles.

From Aug. 16-25, the length of the eight-game losing streak, Texas was slashing .211/.276/.355 with a 70 wRC+ as a team. During the skid, the club’s strikeout percentage was 26% -- the sixth highest in MLB -- and the walk rate was 7.9%.

Entering Aug. 16, the Rangers were slashing .273/.342/.464 with a 119 wRC+ as a team. Throughout the season, the strikeout percentage has hovered around 22.1%, which is about middle of the pack. The walk rate was about 9%.

A lot of that can be attributed to the offense just pressing to make something happen, but it’s clear the Rangers' offense, collectively, got away from its typical approach throughout the losing streak.

is 2-for-24 since his return. How would manager Kennedi handle the catching situation if he doesn’t snap out of it very soon? -- @RookieMisteak
The first thing I would do is exactly what Rangers manager Bruce Bochy did for the second and third games in Minnesota -- give him a breather.

There’s no doubt Heim wants to be out there, and the Rangers are a better team when he’s contributing to the offense. He’s just not doing that since returning from a left wrist tendon strain. Before the injury, he was slashing .281/.337/.479 and started behind the plate in 80 of Texas' first 103 games. Since then, he’s hitting .083 with zero extra-base hits.

For the time being, I would definitely continue using a hot Mitch Garver behind the plate. He’s hitting .320/.393/.653 in August and has taken over most of the starting reps for the injured Heim. Until Heim gets his rhythm and timing back, I would continue starting Garver most of the time, while getting Austin Hedges behind the plate every few days to give him a breather.

Q1. If got hurt … or even got hurt, could you see the Rangers bringing up for the stretch run? Q2. Biggest threat to winning the AL West … Mariners or Astros? -- @rangersfanjeff
Never say never, but I truly do not see Carter getting called up this year unless it's to play every day at this level. It feels like that would take a catastrophe of some sort with multiple injuries in the outfield. Carter -- MLB Pipeline’s No. 8-ranked prospect -- is really good. But his splits in Double-A are notably different enough that he could use a bit more polishing against Minor League pitching before throwing him into a pennant race. I would be shocked if we don’t see Carter early in 2024, but I don’t expect him before then.

To your second question, it’s hard not to say the Mariners right now, considering they’re the ones tied in first place with Texas despite the defending World Series champions lurking right there. The Rangers have held off the Astros all summer, but the Mariners made up the entire difference in just 10 days. Seattle’s got a really good rotation and if Julio Rodríguez and the offense perform even close to what they’re doing right now, it feels like the club up north will be the biggest contender.

What options, if any, do the Rangers have to strengthen the bullpen? -- @joe_stroop; Do you think and/or get another look in September? -- @LasoiNic
Hernández was recalled on Saturday, replacing rookie Grant Anderson after a rough outing in a loss to the Twins Friday night. I wouldn’t be shocked if Speas joined him with the big league club soon.

Yerry Rodríguez is an option, in theory, but his 7.36 career big league ERA over two seasons doesn't do much to improve the bullpen at the moment. 

Other options already on the 40-man include Glenn Otto, Owen White and Cody Bradford -- all of whom are starters but can contribute out of the bullpen if necessary. Texas' No. 28 prospect Cole Winn and Zak Kent are on the 40-man, too, but have yet to make their big league debuts, and it’s unlikely that’ll happen in this tight division race. 

That being said, no, there are few reinforcements to be called from Round Rock. Bochy and pitching coach Mike Maddux need to work with what they’ve got and preferably sooner rather than later.

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Kennedi Landry covers the Rangers for MLB.com.