Texas remains a work in progress when it comes to defensive attitude
ARLINGTON — They have three All-stars. One was twice designated for assignment. Another didn’t make it out of the first inning of his first start of the season. And a third who had only two homers in April, but hit No. 21 on Monday.
On one hand, it should serve as reinforcement that trusting the plans and process can eventually produce results for the rebuilding Texas Rangers.
On the other, though, there was Monday’s sloppy 7-3 home loss to Detroit, which underscored also: Not everybody is on the same schedule. There is still plenty of “process” to go.
About Monday: still a work in progress. Nate Lowe made two errors on a single routine Nomar Mazara grounder, first bobbling the ball, then making a behindthe-back flip to first base where nobody was covering. Kolby Allard, who’d spun around on the mound after the bobble, was late to the base. Two runs scored. Another scored on safety squeeze on the next pitch. And two more scored when No. 9 hitter Zack Short, ironically the shortstop, drove a ball into the visitor’s bullpen.
It was the second time the Rangers’ defense bungled away a game in July, which turned all of five days old Monday. They made two late errors, including a bad throw by reliever Brett Martin, in losing a late lead at Seattle on Friday. They have made seven errors in their last five games through Monday.
It ruined another nice start for Allard, who had a career-high nine strikeouts. Two homers with two outs in the ninth prevented yet another shutout.
“Other than Kolby and those late homers, it was probably our worst game of the year,” Rangers
manager Chris Woodward said. “I don’t want to go into the Allstar break with sloppy play. It definitely will be addressed. You are in the majors. You’ve got to play major league baseball. There are nights when you are going to lose, but I don’t want this (kind of game) to become a trend. Everybody should be a little bit embarrassed about it. I didn’t like the way we lost.”
Lest anybody forget after that heady four-game win streak from a week ago: This is still a last-place team teetering on being 20 games below .500. The Tigers, the only AL team other than the Rangers to finish 2020 with a sub-.400 winning percentage, trounced them.
Speaking of last year, though, there are reasons to believe the process can yield results. The AL All-star team proves it.
At the end of last year, starter Kyle Gibson was quickly heading toward obscurity. He was the opening day starter this year seemingly by default because, well, somebody had to. And then, given a five-run lead on opening day, he retired all of two batters. Now, he’s an All-star with a vast repertoire.
He’s the third Rangers starter, each acquired via free agency, to be offered that chance in the last three years to participate following Mike Minor and Lance Lynn, who declined a late invitation, in 2019.
Adolis Garcia was acquired for cash after the St. Louis Cardinals designated him for assignment.
He bought into the Rangers’ suggestions on swing changes designed to reduce his chase and highlight his power. Now he’s an All-star.
Joey Gallo was a one-act circus when Woodward and his hitting staff arrived in 2019, capable of some prodigious homers, but more characterized as a strikeout king. Now, he’s a Gold Glove winner heading to his second consecutive All-star Game. He leads the AL in walks, ranks as one of nine players with at least 20 home runs and is flirting with the league lead in on-base percentage.
Gallo’s two-run homer with two outs in the ninth broke the shutout. Jonah Heim followed with another homer.
Whatever “elite” means these days, Gallo certainly qualifies for the conversation. He’s second in the AL in outfield WAR in 2021, sixth since 2019.
“I don’t think there’s just one way of being elite,” Woodward said. “He’s constantly trying to address the swing-and-miss. If he does that, he’s just a normal elite guy. He’s a type of elite player. There isn’t just one mold.”
They are examples that the Rangers’ pro scouting department can identify undervalued pitching, that the analytics staff can come up with definitive improvement plans and that the instructional staff can communicate it.
“They are three great examples of that,” Woodward said. “We’re not threatening anybody in this organization that they have to buy in or else. But we have a lot of talented staff members that can make them better. That’s what this entire thing is designed to do: make our players better. It is collaborative. All it takes is hungry players that want to improve and they are going to improve.”
Now, who is hungry to get to work on that defense?