The Texas Rangers (68-47) grabbed headlines at the MLB trade deadline in acquiring Max Scherzer from the New York Mets. In the time since the deadline, Texas sits at 8-1 after sweeps of the Chicago Cubs and Miami Marlins, while winning two of three against the Oakland A’s.
The Rangers are rolling, but they’ll need some guys to step up in the coming weeks as the injuries start to pile up if they hope to fend off the Houston Astros in the AL West.
Luckily the Rangers have the highest-scoring offense in baseball this season and rank second behind the Atlanta Braves in wRC+ at 121 (100 is league average) with Corey Seager (190) leading the way. While the lineup is filled with pretty good bats, two of them are currently missing from the lineup in All-Star catcher Jonah Heim (123) and rookie third baseman Josh Jung (122).
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Let’s take a look at if Texas can weather the storm, and if so, how they’ll go about it.
The replacements for the Texas Rangers
With Heim out, the Rangers brought in Austin Hedges at the trade deadline in a minor deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 30-year-old backstop is batting .175 with a .231 on-base percentage (OBP) this season, but he hasn’t been used much at the plate, collecting just five plate appearances. He’s known more as a solid defensive catcher, like Heim, but looks to be on the roster for depth purposes. One of those purposes being that Rangers manager Bruce Bochy has used Mitch Garver behind the plate in four of the last six games while backup catcher Sam Huff has also been in the lineup in a handful of those games.
Garver is a comparable offensive player to Heim this year with a 128 wRC+ to Jonah’s 123, but Heim is the more complete backstop. Bochy told reporters in Oakland that Heim was taking batting practice and swinging from the left side, so his return to the lineup should be looming.
The loss of Jung is going to last a little longer as he recovers from a thumb fracture. Bochy said that his timeline is roughly six weeks until he returns, and that he is expected back before the end of the season.
Texas will be turning to Ezequiel Duran, Josh H. Smith, and Jonathan Ornelas to attempt to replace Jung. Duran has mostly played in left field and at shortstop when Seager missed time, but offensively he has been great for the club with a 118 wRC+, batting .277 with a .325 OBP and 14 homers. Smith has also primarily played shortstop and left field and is batting .214 with a .340 OBP. This week in Oakland Duran played third against the two left-handed starters Oakland threw out there while Smith got a look against the right-hander.
Ornelas, 23, has yet to start a game or accumulate a plate appearance, but he did come in and score a run as a pinch runner on Tuesday in his major league debut.
Bochy said of the trio, “Zeke has not played a lot of third base over there. We got to get him ready and he’ll play there quite a bit. Got Johnny, who did not play a lot of third base in Round Rock, he’ll be getting some work there. We’re aware that he needs time there. Smitty we’re fine with.” He also added that they’d be looking at “the type of pitcher they’d be facing on the mound, not just left and right” when it came to filling out the lineup.
No Corey Seager, no worries
Injuries can obviously derail a team, but they may not derail the Rangers. They have had Corey Seager, their highest-paid player (until Max Scherzer came along) and best hitter this season (190 wRC+) in just 72 of 115 games, and yet they still lead the West by 2.5 games entering play this weekend and have scored the most runs in MLB. That 190 wRC+ also ranks first in all MLB, ahead of even Shohei Ohtani. Granted, he’s played fewer games, so the sample size is working in Seager’s favor, but that’s the level of play he’s been at when he’s on the field.
And the Rangers were still pretty good without him.
Texas will be facing one of the tougher remaining schedules in baseball with a cumulative .506 winning percentage among their upcoming opponents, which ranks as the 11th hardest. The three most important games remaining will be the series they have with the Houston Astros at home from August 4-6. Coincidentally, the Rangers are 4-6 against Houston this season.
Bruce Bochy’s return to the Bay Area
It’s no secret that Bochy had a lot of success in his time with the San Francisco Giants, highlighted by winning three World Series titles in five years from 2010-2014. His 1.052 wins with the team are also second-most in franchise history behind only the legendary John McGraw’s 2,583.
At the beginning of the road trip in Oakland, Bochy was asked what he was feeling returning to the Bay Area after spending 13 seasons managing the San Francisco Giants. “I have a lot of people to thank in my 13 years here with how well I was treated and my special time here.”
Bochy was also asked about the fans in Oakland and their attempts to keep the A’s from moving to Las Vegas. “I hope they keep trying. I loved my time that I had here. The exciting games that we played here. I feel for the fans that could possibly lose their team.”
Jason Burke covers MLB for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.