What a successful year will look like for the Texas Rangers in 2021

A successful Texas Rangers season: Big league bats

The Rangers’ big league team is also filled with plenty of young, controllable talent who have struggled at the highest level.

We’ve seen glimpses of success from Joey Gallo, Willie Calhoun, Nick Solak, Leody Taveras and company, but we haven’t seen the consistent production.

Beginning with Joey Gallo, the Rangers time to help develop the superstar player he can be is ticking down.

With two years of control left, Gallo and the Rangers have to find some way to piece it all together if he wants to be a key cog in the next great Texas team.

The batting average has to come up exponentially, and he has to learn to take the ball the other way with the drastic shift on against him.

If Gallo has a similar season to the beginning of 2019, the Texas Rangers will be in good shape, but if he continues to struggle, his time in Arlington may be running out.

Willie Calhoun and Nick Solak are the next guys up, and they have struggled for different reasons.

Calhoun battled too many unfortunate injuries last season that led to his struggles.

There is no doubt in my mind that a healthy, confident Willie Calhoun is going to come to camp this spring and prove he’s still got something in the tank.

As for Solak, he came in and opened eyes during his rookie campaign in 2019, but has yet to find that consistency since.

The pandemic-ridden season surely didn’t help, and we saw signs of life late last year, but he has to maintain that top-of-the-order on-base ability to stick with the team.

His power numbers also dropped last season, but learning a new ballpark also plays a role in that.

If both Calhoun and Solak can produce similarly to 2019, the Rangers will have a formidable top of the order.

For Leody Taveras, he impressed plenty of people last season in his short stint with the Rangers.

His power numbers were better than ever, he got on-base, played terrific defense and proved he can be an everyday big leaguer.

The key for Taveras this season is to cut down the strikeouts and continue to put the ball in play.

He has game-changing speed, so he needs to take full advantage of it.

He showed a great approach at the plate from both sides, and if that continues, the Texas Rangers will have found one of the best pure leadoff hitters in franchise history.

With a full season ahead, the continued maturation of these four guys are what the Rangers will cling to when on the offensive side of the ball.

If even two of these guys can bounce back or continue past success, the Rangers could call that a successful season.