Texas Rangers: Ronald Guzman is turning a stint into a stay

The Texas Rangers are giving first baseman Ronald Guzman a chance to prove himself ready for the major leagues. After a slow start, Guzman is suddenly on a tear and giving reason to stay with the big club.

In a season that is so prospect-centric, let’s give credit to a Texas Rangers prospect that is making a statement in the big leagues. Ronald Guzman homered in his 3rd consecutive game Wednesday night against the New York Yankees. In the three-game series, Guzman went 5-for-10 with 5 RBI and 4 runs scored. He experienced a batting average increase of 31 points (.187 to .218).

As indicated by his batting average from four games ago (the .187 BA), Guzman’s first 26 major league games weren’t exactly satisfactory. But that’s the beauty of baseball—all it takes is one hot streak to get a player going. And Ronald Guzman sure did get it going in a series against MLB’s best. He even took a tough left-handed pitcher in C.C. Sabathia deep. A great sign for a player that had been restricted to facing only right-handers throughout the year.

The timing is perfect for Guzman. Reason being, his initial struggles had him on an aggressive path back to the minor leagues. Now, he’s all but guaranteed a number of upcoming starts with the Texas Rangers. Though, can he keep up the good work?

The next few weeks will be key for the 23-year-old first baseman. Roster spots will tighten once Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus return from injury. Guzman will be battling with a handful of Rangers not only for playing time, but also big league status.

Texas is certainly rooting for him. Guzman currently ranks as the #8 prospect on the Texas Rangers top 30 prospects list. None of the prospects ranked ahead of him are first baseman. Ultimately, Guzman has every reason to believe he is the Rangers’ first baseman of the future. However, he first has to impress in the present to convince the team’s front office of those beliefs.

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Joey Gallo is of course a future first baseman candidate. Though, the Texas Rangers have shown a lot of flexibility with Gallo. If they keep him through the trade deadline (they most likely will), Texas could assign Gallo to third base or left field once 2019 comes around.

We’ll see how it all plays out. At the moment, all that matters is a number of young Rangers are doing their job in making front office and managerial decisions difficult. Ronald Guzman is included in that bunch.

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Guzman undoubtedly has a major league ready glove, but he’ll need to continue to prove himself with the bat. Moreover, he’ll need to prove that the last three games were not just a fluke.