The good, the bad and the ugly from the Rangers 1st half

The Bad

Adrian Beltre’s injury drama

When first reported that Adrian Beltre would start the season on the disabled list, the plan was for him to return as early as April 9th. Instead, his road to recovery from a calf strain was a rough one, pushing his season debut all the way back to May 29th.

Since returning from the disabled list, Beltre is top five in nearly every offensive category for third baseman.

With Gallo having a breakout season, it’s reasonable to wonder what a full season of Beltre at third and Gallo out first could produce.

The teams injury drama

The Rangers have sent 18 players to the DL this year, the fifth most, for a total of 758 days, the tenth most and have paid $22,643,332 to players on the DL, the third most.

The 336 days spent on the DL by starting pitchers is the third most with major players like Cole Hamels, Tyson Ross and A.J. Griffin all spending extended amounts of time sidelined.

Luckily the rotation has been able to stay afloat. Unfortunately, the bullpen can’t say the same.

While the disastrous performance from the unit isn’t entirely tied to injuries, it certainly has played a role. Jose Leclerc, arguably the team’s best reliever, spent nearly a month on the DL while lefty specialist Jake Diekman has still yet to make his season debut.

Martin Perez

Martin Perez is still only 26-years-old. Hard to believe considering he made his debut nearly five years ago as a 21-year-old. While it’s still far too early to give up on the one time top prospect, his development has been, well, nonexistent.

His current 4.60 ERA is on pace to be the highest since he debuted in 2012 when he only pitched 38 innings.

Perez’s 6.5 strikeouts per nine are the highest of his career but so is his 3.7 walks per nine. In fact, his 1.78 strikeouts per walk are the seventh lowest in all of baseball.

The days of hoping Martin Perez will turn into a top of the rotation starter are long gone. But there’s still hope that he can turn into a solid middle of the rotation guy.

Rougned Odor

After hitting 33 home runs a season ago, Rougned Odor had a chance to solidify himself as one of the game’s best second baseman’s heading into 2017. So far he has yet to do that, in fact, he’s done the complete opposite.

His 0.2 WAR ranks dead last among American League second baseman as does his .220 average, 69 wRC+, 24 percent strikeout rate and -9.5 offensive rating.

Hopefully, Odor’s hot July is a sign of things to come for the remainder of the season.

His 0.6 WAR during the month is the third highest among second baseman, his .481 ISO is second, and his four home runs are the most.

So far 2017 has been disappointing for Odor, but there’s still plenty of time for him to salvage the season.

Jurickson Profar disappointing

Heading into the season left field was the biggest question mark surrounding the lineup. But with Delino DeShields, Jurickson Profar and Ryan Rua locked in a position battle it seemed as though the position was in safe hands.

After being one of the best players at the World Baseball Classic, the position seemed like Profar’s to lose. Which he promptly did. His 22 game stint with the big league club makes it his third longest stint in the bigs, and it’s been arguably his worst.

His 41 wRC+, .172 batting average, and .034 ISO rating are all the worst of his career by a fair amount.

Is it possible Profar just can’t put it together against Major League competition? In 206 career games, he’s produced -0.6 WAR. But he’s shown more than enough during his brief flashes of greatness to prove he has more than enough to succeed at the next level.

Perhaps Profar is one of those guys never able to put it together; maybe he needs a change of scenery.

Either way, it’s growing more and more unlikely that the Rangers ever see the full potential that once landed him as the best prospect in all of baseball.