Texas Rangers: Nick Solak named AL’s top 2B through the month of April

As I’m writing this, Texas Rangers second baseman Nick Solak has an OPS of .910, which is pretty good!

In fact, Solak’s .910 OPS is so good that it currently ranks 25th in all of baseball, and 16th in the American League. At least through the first month of the season, Solak has outproduced guys like Jose Ramirez, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, and even Giancarlo Stanton.

Texas Rangers 2B Nick Solak named a top performer in the month of April.

While Texas Ranges fans are pretty well aware of just how good Solak has been playing to kick off the 2021 season, the national media has just recently started to pick up on the hype. In a recent article for MLB.com, Solak was actually named as the top performing American League second baseman through the entire month of April:

"Solak, a former Yankees farmhand who’s getting on base and hitting for power, has been the best player for Texas by a large margin. His low walk rate potentially foretells some regression, but no matter what happens moving forward, you can’t take his April away from him."

More from Nolan Writin'

• 3 Texas Rangers outfield trade targets not named Bryan Reynolds
• Did Jacob deGrom really mean what he said at his Texas Rangers press conference?
• Where do Texas Rangers prospects Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker stand after the DeGrom signing?
• Martin Perez accepting the qualifying offer looking like solid deal for the Rangers
• 4 outfielders the Texas Rangers can still pursue this winter

Defense withstanding for the moment (Solak’s dWAR is currently in the negatives), Solak has genuinely been doing a bit of everything at the plate for the Rangers. His batting average sits at an impressive .293, his OBP at a .375, and of course he’s mashed 7 home runs to go along with 14 RBIs. He’s even stolen two bases!

As my co-editor Seth Carlson pointed out earlier this week, Solak continuing to provide the Rangers with some above average play at 2B would be a major boost towards the team’s rebuilding efforts:

"All joking aside, Nick Solak is truly making the most of his opportunity in 2021. His defense at second base (his natural position) won’t wow you (it might even make you straight up cringe at times), but it’s his bat that made him an attractive trade target for the Texas Rangers back in 2019.As long as the Rangers are rebuilding, they’ll need guys like Solak to hit in this lineup to manufacture runs.Therefore, the lesser defense comes as somewhat of a sacrifice, but one that seems necessary to make, especially since this season is such a critical one to determine if the 26-year-old merits long-term consideration."

It’s obviously unlikely that Solak will continue to put up top-25 in all of baseball type numbers, but there’s definitely a pathway to him becoming a regular in the “elite 2B” conversation, at least when discussing the American League,

At just 26 years old, Solak has plenty of room to continue to grow into a very good infielder for the Rangers moving forward. Cracking the MLB’s “top players in April” list is hopefully just the beginning.