3 players on thin ice as Rangers shake up roster looking for offense

The odd thing about the recent Texas Rangers hitting woes is that if you look across the lineup, there aren't a whole bunch of guys hitting below .200 or a collection of guys with very low averages. Outside of Joc Pederson and Marcus Semien, most of the everyday players have respectable ledgers. Going into play Tuesday night in Boston, Josh Smith is at. 311, Wyatt Langford clocks in a healthy .297, Corey Seager is doing Corey Seager things while hitting .291, Jonah Heim is having a decent start at .271, and Josh Jung is just fine at .274. So what is it that makes the Rangers one of the worst offenses in baseball?

It is a combination of a lack of hitting with runners in scoring position and a severe power outage that has seen the Rangers hit just one homer in the last 10 games. The lack of gap-hitting and warning track power is something fans are not accustomed to seeing from the 2023 World Champs. Even when they did manage to score this past week, it was a slew of singles that proved to be the difference.

Having written that, there are three Rangers in particular who, if they don't get back to what they are being paid to do, could be on tenuous ground with the organization. It's time to take a good, hard look at these guys and determine if they will be around moving forward due to offensive struggles.

3 players on thin ice as Rangers shake up roster looking for offense

Adolis Garcia - OF

You hate to include Garcia on a list like this because he has been the Rangers' most productive RBI man for the past four years, with 383 RBIs from 2021 to 2024. Garcia has always had a knack for getting clutch hits even when his average has consistently hovered around the .220-.230 mark.

So far this season, Garcia has four dingers and 16 runs driven in. That projects to 19 homers and 79 RBIs over 162 games, which is considerably below the standard he has established for himself. His .216 average is also well below his career mark. Adolis is always going to strike out a lot with his all-in approach on every swing, but his .644 OPS suggests he needs to barrel the ball more and get those extra-base hit numbers up.

Kevin Pillar - OF

The 36-year-old journeyman is on a one-year deal, and now that Leody Taveras has been sent packing, he and Dustin Harris could be seeing extra time in center field - at least for a while. The organization is far more committed to their homegrown hero from the '23 postseason run, Evan Carter, who is due to be called up Tuesday.

Carter has been recovering from a debilitating back injury that he sustained at the beginning of last season, but Chris Young and Bruce Bochy are going to give the youngster every chance to succeed and it will come at the expense of Pillar who is not contributing much when he does get in the lineup. The same could be said of Harris, but he is another young prospect with his entire career ahead of him.

Jake Burger -1B

Well, off season acquisition Jake Burger has already been sent down to the minors for a "reset", so that is clearly an indication that the team wants to see more production and less swing and misses moving forward. Burger was acquired in a deal with the Miami Marlins that included three minor league players.

Because the organization gave away a good chunk of the farm system to get the slugger here, he will have a bit more latitude to get his swing in order, which is why he was sent down. Burger is not an expensive player, and the team is not beholden to him long term, so if things don't get better for the veteran first baseman, the Rangers might be willing to cut bait and develop a guy like Blaine Crim or see what they could get in a trade.