3 Best Unexpected Performances for the Texas Rangers in 2023

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The Texas Rangers in 2023 were very good as evidenced by the World Series the team won against the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was not as simple as saying that Texas was good because Corey Seager and Marcus Semien played great. That was true though. It was not so easy to say that Texas was good because Josh Jung was a rookie of the year contender and Nathan Eovaldi was a Cy Young candidate at the All-Star break. Texas was good because of that, but also because they benefited from several unexpected performances throughout the 2023.

There were performances like what Grant Anderson did in his debut performance in Detroit, where he struck out seven in over two-plus innings pitched on the road in a close ball game. That list could also include what Travis Jankowski did the first four months in providing above-average defense across the outfield and several clutch hits. It could also include what Evan Carter did after being called up in September and how he performed in the playoffs. These three performances surpassed all of those performances based on the situation and the quality of the performance. These three helped define the next man-up nature that was the calling card for the 2023 Texas Rangers.

Next: Down goes Seager and up comes Duran

The Rise of Ezequiel Duran

The season had barely started when Corey Seager injured his hamstring in Kansas City trying to leg out a triple. The injury immediately placed Seager on the IL for a month. The question facing Texas is how do you make up for the loss of an MVP candidate? They first turned to Josh Smith who is a light-hitting utility infielder, but who possessed a great glove at short. Smith struggled to produce at the plate and so the team then turned to another played acquired in the 2021 Joey Gallo trade in Ezequiel Duran.

Duran wasted no time showing that he belonged in the lineup on an everyday basis. He had nine multi-hit games in the time Seager was out. He also had four home runs and 17 RBIs. He played stellar defense at short and became a good double-play partner for Marcus Semien. Duran's production helped Texas be able to withstand the loss of Corey Seager. Texas had a winning record in the month that Seager missed.

Duran continued hitting even after Seager returned to the lineup. He played short, third, and left field for Texas. He also learned how to play first and even played some second base as well. Bruce Bochy was doing whatever he could to find ways to get Duran's bat into the lineup on an everyday basis. There was even talk at one point that Duran should be Texas' seventh All-Star.

The second half was not as kind to Duran, but his unexpected performance in the first half did enough to help Texas race out to a 40-20 start to the season. His performance was so good that fans were even hesitant to trade him for Shohei Ohtani. It sparked the famous Twitter debate started by Jamey Newberg who asked fans if they would trade Duran and Jack Leiter for Shohei Ohtani and no talk of an extension. That is how good Duran was playing and he was considered to be a centerpiece to a potential trade for the best player in the game.

Next: Dunning steps up in the absence of a Cy Young Winner

Dunning is stunning filling in for Jacob deGrom

The second big move Texas made in the 2022-2023 offseason was signing Jacob deGrom. They shocked the baseball world when they signed deGrom to a guaranteed five-year contract worth almost 200 million dollars. He was going to be the ace Texas has been searching for since moving to Arlington. In the six starts he did make deGrom did pitch like an ace. He was 2-0 with a 2.67 ERA, and 45 strikeouts to just four walks in 30 1/3 innings pitched. He gave Texas exactly what they were looking for. That is until he had to be removed from a start against the New York Yankees in April with what was described as forearm tightness. deGrom was placed on the 15-day IL and then moved to the 60-day IL before it being announced he would need Tommy John surgery in June.

The first option Texas turned to was Dane Dunning. He had started the season in the pen as the long man and was excellent in that role early in the season. His career had been as a starter and this deGrom injury opened the door for him to become a starter again. He was not able to replicate the dominant strikeout-to-walk ratio deGrom had, but other than that he did an excellent deGrom imitation in the first half.

Dunning in the first half had an 8-2 record with a 2.84 ERA. He allowed a .236 batting average against in the first half. Texas had a 7-5 record in games that he started from May until the All-Star break. That includes winning four of his five starts in June. Dunning was one of the main reasons why Texas did not fall apart in the absence of deGrom. He was not just filling in for deGrom, he was pitching well enough to win games for the Texas Rangers.

The second half saw Dunning's ERA rise and his role change when Texas traded for Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery. His first half though was excellent and gave Texas the patience they needed to wait until the trade deadline to make a big move. Then Dunning transitioned smoothly into the bullpen role and pitched well in September and October in the long-relief role.

Next: Promising right-handed reliever fulfills his potential in October

The unexpected legendary October from Josh Sborz

There was no reliever on the Texas Rangers roster that fans wanted to go more than Josh Sborz throughout the 2023 season. He had his moments of brilliance, but it was also tempered with outings where he could not get anyone out. His stuff is great, but if he is missing a location it becomes very hittable very quickly. Bruce Bochy and the front office continued to believe in Josh Sborz even amidst the rough outings.

The low point of the season had to be his appearance on September 4th against the Houston Astros. He pitched just 2/3 of an inning and gave up five runs including a home run. He also walked two and struck out no one. It was a disastrous appearance. There was not a guarantee that he would be on the roster the next day. Even some beat writers were speculating that would be the end of the run for Sborz. Texas decided to hold onto Sborz and place him on the IL instead. In retrospect that might have been the decision that won the Texas Rangers the World Series.

Sborz came back on September 29th healthy and became the ideal setup man the bullpen needed. He was outstanding in the postseason. He became the 7th and sometimes 8th inning reliever for Texas. In the postseason he finished with 12 innings pitched, 13 strikeouts to four walks, a 0.75 ERA, five holds, and one save. He only gave up one run in the entire postseason. That was a run in the seventh inning of ALCS game 7. That run scored when Aroldis Chapman came on in relief of Sborz in the 7th innning.

Texas' patience with Sborz paid off as he was on the mound in game five of the World Series. He came on and pitched the final 2 1/3 innings and gave up no runs, struck out four, and closed out the World Series with an emphatic slamming of the glove to the ground as the ump rung up Ketel Marte on a curveball at the top of the zone. He and Leclerc became the reliable options that Bochy needed and did not have throughout the 2023 season. What Sborz did when called upon every time out in October was a major reason why this team was able to win the World Series. It could quite easily be described as the most unexpected performance that Texas received in 2023.

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