Texas Rangers: Watch Kyle Gibson display some ninja-like reflexes

During this weekend’s series finale against the Houston Astros, all eyes were set to be placed on the Texas Rangers‘ newfound Ace, Kyle Gibson. A player who has seemingly out of nowhere found his stride here in 2021, Gibson has poured in impressive performance after impressive performance for the Rangers this season.

His Sunday start against Houston was no different, specifically on the defensive side of things:

I mean come on, that’s a simply ridiculous snag from Gibson. It’s been hard enough to record a base hit off the right-hander this season as it is, him making plays like that on the mound is borderline unfair.

The type of play that might have 6x Gold Glove winner Zack Greinke feeling a tad impressed in the opposing dugout.

Kyle Gibson flashed some serious leather during the Texas Rangers loss this afternoon.

The Texas Rangers were unable to play spoiler and prevent the series sweep on Sunday against Houston, but to no fault of Gibson’s. The veteran righty was impressive yet again, walking away with a no-decision after 7.0 innings of two-run ball. Gibson only allowed four hits and recorded two walks as well – a very strong start against an Astros offense that continues to rank towards the top of Major League Baseball in a variety of different categories.

Gibson’s season ERA is at an eye-popping 2.32, and his WHIP at an equally impressive 1.01. He’s logged 44 strikeouts in 54.1 innings of work, and he’s yet to record a loss through his first nine starts.

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If you go one step further and exclude Gibson’s disastrous Opening Day start against the Royals (where he allowed five runs in just 0.1 innings of work), the Rangers number one pitcher would possess an ERA of 1.50 on the season.

Taking into account the fact that Gibson is 33 years of age, he’s likely not the type of player who the Rangers are expecting to retain this season. Despite their hot stretch of form this past week, the four straight losses they were just dealt by the Astros is a rather rude awakening as to where Texas is currently at in regards to their rebuild. Gibson is likely to be on the block come the trade deadline, and could very well fetch back some nice looking prospects considering just how dominant he’s been over his past eight starts.

Pitching is always at a premium in baseball, and Gibson has numbers this season that rival some of the league’s top arms. Throw in the fact that he’s on an expiring contract, and he should be viewed as a top commodity come late July (should he keep this level of form up).

Gibson’s status in Texas withstanding, Sunday was yet another performance that you can add to his ever growing list of strong outings. It’s unfortunate the offense and the bullpen weren’t able to pull through and help him secure a win on his record, but hey, at least we got that cool clip of Gibson looking like a full-on ninja on the mound.