4 Texas Rangers players fans are losing patience with

The Texas Rangers have endured some tough sledding at the outset of the 2024 season. As the defending World Series champions look to get back to the Fall Classic, they've been met with a ton of adversity.

The Rangers have seen several of their top performers land on the injured list, including Max Scherzer, Josh Jung, and Jacob deGrom. But Bruce Bochy has managed to keep his team treading water in hopes that he'll have a healthy squad by mid-season.

But while some of the Rangers' shortcomings in the early going can be attributed to injuries, some struggles are purely a result of poor performance. Which four players are testing the patience of the Rangers' fanbase and how can they get back into their good graces?

Jose Leclerc already lost his job, but Rangers fans still don't trust him

This was always bound to happen. Rangers fans didn't trust Jose Leclerc last season during the team's World Series run, and they definitely don't trust him moving forward. Even Bochy has shown that he has little faith in Leclerc to get the job done — at least late in games. Leclerc was replaced as the Rangers closer earlier this season.

There was brief stretch it looked if Leclrec had turned the corner. But the last few games have reinforced that trusting Leclerc is a dangerous gamble. If he's firing on all cylinders, he's one of the best relievers Texas has, but the lack of consistency drives the Rangers fanbase crazy. He's allowed five earned runs in his last 3.2 innings of work, logging a loss and a blown save in the process.

Rangers fans can tell that Jack Leiter isn't ready for The Show

It could be considered a stretch to say that Rangers fans are losing patience with Jack Leiter, but they've definitely grown tired of seeing him struggle on the major league mound. Leiter has now had three chances to make an impression, and it's painfully obvious that the former first-round pick needs more seasoning down in the minors.

Part of the reason that Leiter's contract was selected earlier this season was due to the overwhelming number of injuries incurred by the Rangers rotation. Leiter pitched well in the minors this season, but unfortunately it hasn't translated to the big leagues. More time at Triple-A Round Rock would seem to be in the cards. The next time Texas recalls Leiter to the big leagues, Rangers fans want to see him stick around.

Yerry Rodriguez is on shaky ground with Rangers fans

The velocity is there, but it doesn't mean a darn thing if you're walking 13% of the batters you face. That's the predicament that Yerry Rodriguez finds himself in at the moment. Combined with an unsually high walk rate is Rodriguez's preposterously low strikeout rate. Rodriguez is walking almost the same number of batters he's striking out. That's a quick way to draw the ire of the Rangers fanbase.

More troubling could be the fact that Rodriguez's FIP (8.53) is actually higher than his ERA (7.24). So not only has Rodriguez been bad, but he's been fortunate that his numbers aren't worse. The Rangers maintain the ability to send Rodriguez back to the minors, and may well need to invoke that right given how poorly he's pitched this season.

Evan Carter's struggles have raised some eyebrows among the Rangers fanbase

Evan Carter was the star of the Rangers' postseason run last fall, and many Texas fans expected the outfielder to just pick up where he left off. But that hasn't been the case thus far, and some fans are beginning to question what's wrong. Does he need a tune-up back in the minors in order to get on track?

The rookie has done a great job of not chasing pitches outside the strike zone, but the strikeouts are continuing to plague the 21-year-old. There's tremendous power and potential in that bat, but Carter is striking out over 28% of the time in just over 60 career major league games.

Texas fans will no doubt exercise patience with Carter, but there are some who are beginning to wonder which version of the outfielder is the real one. Is it the player who took the league by storm during last year's playoff run, or the player who's hitting just .216 with a 6.7% barrel rate? Most likely it's somewhere in between, but it's certainly something worth monitoring throughout the season.

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