No more politics, the Texas Rangers need to sport their optimal lineup

Offense has suffered for the Texas Rangers over the last week. What can Chris Woodward do to jolt the slumping bunch?

The Texas Rangers are experiencing an offensive lull. A struggle against a dominant Tampa Bay staff last weekend was understandable, but it carrying over to a pedestrian Los Angeles staff is a head-scratcher.

Their lineup has been top-heavy for much of the year. The wily vets in Shin-Soo Choo and Elvis Andrus start things off, and up-and-comers Joey Gallo and Nomar Mazara polish the first half. The second half of the order has been a puzzle, however.

Texas has gotten very little production at the plate from their catchers, whether it be Jeff Mathis, Isiah Kiner-Falefa or Tim Federowicz. Rougned Odor is on pace for close to 500 at-bats this season, which should not be the case considering his atrocious offensive numbers across the board. And Ronald Guzman has hardly shown any flash, hitting just .207 with a .286 OBP and 7 home runs.

Given the typical lineup construction, this team is going to struggle if the guys at the top are slumping. In their recent downturn, Choo and Mazara have been slumping. That has put a lot of pressure on Andrus and Gallo, who haven’t done much in the area of run producing during the spell either.

Solutions?

Balance the lineup and remove Rougned Odor from it.

Vs. right-handed pitchers

1. DH Shin-Soo Choo
2. LF Willie Calhoun
3. SS Elvis Andrus
4. RF Nomar Mazara
5. CF Joey Gallo
6. 2B Danny Santana
7. 1B Ronald Guzman
8. 3B Asdrubal Cabrera
9. C Tim Federowicz

Calhoun has struggled in his last few starts, but I still like him hitting second in the order. He seems to play his best when his manager shows great confidence in him. The two spot in the order exudes considerable confidence.

Mazara will benefit from being protected by Gallo. He should get more strikes and better pitches to hit, as opposing pitchers won’t want to face the bigger bat of Gallo with runners on base.

Santana is a solid bat in the six-hole and perhaps the game will slow down a bit for Cabrera in the eight-hole.

Vs. left-handed pitchers

1. DH Shin-Soo Choo
2. CF Delino DeShields
3. SS Elvis Andrus
4. RF Nomar Mazara
5. LF Joey Gallo
6. 1B Logan Forsythe
7. 2B Danny Santana
8. 3B Asdrubal Cabrera
9. C Jeff Mathis

Guzman has hit .120 with a .537 OPS against southpaws this year. Forsythe has not been great against them, but he has been far better than Guzman. He’s been great at driving runners in, hitting .340 with runners in scoring position and driving in 31 runs in just 191 at-bats. He would have many opportunities hitting after a number of high on-base guys.

Switch-hitting Santana has not been as good batting from the right side compared to the left. Still, he’s been far more effective vs. lefties than Odor, who is hitting .211 against them.

The bottom part of this lineup lacks punch, but it consists of tougher outs and more professional hitters than what Woodward has been tossing out there as of late.

This is not calling for a permanent Rougned Odor benching, but it’s time he takes a back seat to Danny Santana. Santana has been very good and Odor has been very bad… it’s that simple. Very bad players do not deserve everyday playing time, or even majority playing time. Recall the old baseball saying, “if you can hit, you can play.” Surely the saying stands in its opposite form as well. Odor can’t hit, therefore, he can’t play (at least not very often).

It seems odd to say, but if Odor gets a starting nod, it should be against a lefty. His splits are more favorable against left-handed pitchers than right-handed pitchers. The main reason is he’s been terrible against high velocities in 2019. Righties typically throw harder than lefties.

The Texas Rangers offense will strengthen when Hunter Pence and Isiah Kiner-Falefa return after the All-Star break. Chris Woodward will have some restructuring to take care of at that time, but for now, I believe the above two lineups give the offense the greatest chance of scoring runs.