Texas Rangers Weekly Report 9: A long-winded road back home

The Texas Rangers looked to fix their disastrous road record this week as they traveled to Anaheim to take on the Angels and Seattle to play the Mariners. Unfortunately, both the Angels and Mariners took care of business at their home stadiums in consecutive sweeps of the Rangers.

Then, the team then traveled over Memorial Day to Denver to play the Colorado Rockies and things didn’t get any better there. The Rangers lost on a wild pitch for the second time this year and were ultimately swept by the Rockies in 3 games.

In some better news, the Texas Rangers did net some accolades this week. First, starting pitcher Dane Dunning got his first ever career hit against the Rockies.

The other accolade was Adolis Garcia being named the American League Player of the Month for May, the 9th time that a Texas Ranger has won the award and the first since Nomar Mazara back in 2016.

Texas Rangers Weekly Report: Who’s Hot

Joey Gallo

Joey Gallo has been doing pretty well at the plate this past week. In the 7 games, Gallo has scored 4 runs, 4 hits, 1 home run, and 2 RBIs. Gallo could be traded by the trade deadline if he continues to do well.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa

Isiah Kiner-Falefa has also had a good week behind the plate and on the field. Kiner-Falefa had 7 hits, 2 runs, and 2 RBI’s in 28 at-bats. He also had a good fielding play against the Rockies Wednesday.

If he continues this level of play on the field and behind the plate, don’t be surprised if he gets another Gold Glove at shortstop, and perhaps even his first ever All-Star nod.

Texas Rangers Weekly Report: Who’s Not

Brett Martin

The reason why Brett Martin is on the bottom of the list is due to a walk-off wild pitch he threw against the Rockies in a 3-2, 11-inning loss. This is the second time that Martin has thrown one in high leverage situations this year and unsurprisingly, Texas has lost both of those games. He has to have better pitch command on the mound.

Jonah Heim

Jonah Heim is on the who’s not list because of the number of wild pitches he allows to go by him. He’s got to learn to block better at the plate to stop some of the crazy pitches thrown his way. Not to mention, he also got thrown out trying to steal third in that aforementioned extra innings loss that could’ve been the difference for the Rangers in that game.

The Texas Rangers as a team

Yeah, the 0-15 road losing streak speaks for itself…

Final Thoughts

The Rangers amount of wins on the road this year should be very concerning for fans. So far, the Rangers are 9-23 on the road, worst in the AL.

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This is subpar for a major league team. Not even teams that are flat-out rebuilding should accept this level of play. If the Rangers want make the playoffs, they have to win on the road just like they’ve been able to at home.

On a more positive note, top organizational pitching prospect Cole Winn is having one heck of a start to the minor league season in Frisco. Winn pitched on June 2nd and allowed one hit and struck out 7 batters in 6 innings.

I would expect him to be moved up to Triple-A Round Rock soon and possibly to the Rangers by September.

Cole Ragans is also having a good start at High-A Hickory. In 6 innings, Ragans struck out 11 batters. If he continues pitching like that a couple more outings, he will likely be in Frisco by the All-Star Break.

Texas Rangers Weekly Schedule

June 4-6 at home vs. Tampa Bay Rays

June 8-9 at home vs. San Francisco Giants

Texas Rangers: Should Cole Winn be called up this season?

Should the Texas Rangers call up their best pitching prospect to make his MLB debut in 2021? Or are they better off waiting until 2022?