Texas Rangers: 4 players that are key to the Rangers making the playoffs

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Texas suffered a schedule loss on Friday night in Cleveland. The team played Thursday night in Toronto and then set off for Cleveland after the game. They did not arrive until the early morning hours on Friday. They appeared tired and slow reacting in the batters' box against Lucas Giolito. They struck out 12 times in seven scoreless innings against Giolito. There was bound to be some let down after such a crucial series sweep against the Blue Jays. I did not think they would lose 12-3 as they did.

They did not lose any ground to Houston as the Astros lost 4-2 against the Kansas City Royals and the Mariners lost to the Dodgers 6-3. Toronto did pick up a game on Texas and is now 1.5 games ahead of Toronto. Every game matters from here to the end of the season. It will take a complete team effort to get into the playoffs. I think it is vital that they get good or great performances from these four players. If that happens they will extend their season deep into October.

#1 Jon Gray

The news this week about Max Scherzer missing the rest of the regular season and being unlikely to make a return in the playoffs increases the importance of Jon Gray. He signed here back in 2021 with Corey Seager and Marcus Semien. He chose Texas even though they were coming off a 102-loss season. He signed here with the expectation that Texas would be in this position. They are and now they need him to be the solid number two pitcher that he can be. If Texas does make it to the wild card round Gray is likely starting one of the three games.

Gray has had a rough September. He pitched on Friday night and got the early yank once again. He pitched 2 2/3 innings back on September 10th and Friday night he only pitched 3 2/3 innings. In three September starts he has a 7.15 ERA and has not pitched more than five innings in any of the three starts. He has been having command issues this month as he now has eight walks and two hit batters in the 11 1/3 innings pitched this month. He has not been good enough and Friday night Heaney was not able to bail him out. Heaney pitched two innings and allowed six runs and after that Texas waived the white flag.

Gray has the ability to be a dominant right-handed starter. He can get that fastball up to 97mph, with a nasty curveball and slider combination. He also throws a changeup and sweeper. The issue he has been having this season is hitters are having more success against his fastball than in any previous season. Hitters have a .345 batting average against the fastball and have a .263 batting average or below on his other pitches.

Gray has a very important role on this team and even more so now that Scherzer is out. If Texas is able to line up their rotation it will likely go Nathan Eovaldi then Gray or Montgomery for games 2 and 3 of the wild card round. Gray is likely to get the ball to either clinch a first round series or extend the series to a game 3. If he continues to pitch like he has it could be an early exit for this Texas Rangers team. He needs to get back to being the pitcher who is able to pitch six to seven innings and striking out seven or more batters. That kind of Gray performance will give Texas a chance to win every time he steps on the mound.

#2 Jose Leclerc

Bochy is taking a more unconventional route to managing his bullpen lately which has been successful. He has leaned on pitchers such as Martin Perez and Cody Bradford more lately in late game situations. One pitcher who he has felt comfortable with in the late innings is Jose Leclerc. He has brought Leclerc primarily in the seventh inning or later. He has used Leclerc as that bridge guy to get to a more matchup oriented eighth inning and then Chapman in the ninth. It appears that will be Leclerc's role going forward the rest of the season and into the postseason.

Leclerc has been successful in walking the tightrope he sometimes puts himself into. He still is having some issues with walks this month, but he is navigating it and coming through with pitches when it matters. He has holds in his last two appearances including a tight situation against the Blue Jays on Thursday night. The score was 4-2 with a runner on first. He struck out the first two batters he faced then walked Bo Bichette to put the tying run on first with Vladimir Guerrero Jr up at the plate. Guerrero worked the count full and on the sixth pitch, Leclerc struck him out to end the inning and preserve the 4-2 lead.

Bochy is likely to call upon Leclerc in key situations down the stretch with runners on base or no runners on and a close game. Texas will need Leclerc to come through in these situations and hand the ball off to whoever is next out of the pen. If he is shaky and lacking confidence in his pitches that will make it much harder for Texas to hold onto these games late. He is absolutely one of the more important pitchers in the entire bullpen these last two-plus weeks.

#3 Josh Jung

It appears Jung is aiming to come back on Monday back at home against the Red Sox. It is looking like he will be activated without any rehab assignment. He is just going to be thrown out there. I do not know if that is the smart move. The team does need him back both in the field and in the batters' box. It is clear that it took Jonah Heim about two to three weeks to get his timing back at the plate. Unfortunately for Jung that is all that is left in the season. They will need him to get his timing back over the course of three days against the Red Sox and be ready to go against the Seattle Mariners when they come to town on Friday for that all important series.

Jung was one of the leading contenders for the American League Rookie of the Year award when he went down with a broken thumb back on August 6th. That was almost six weeks ago now. Texas needs him to pick up where he left off. The team needs him to provide power at the five spot and to drive in runs. He was on pace to get close to 100 RBI's or eclipse that mark before his injury. Can he get the timing back that he had before the injury? One thing to watch for is how patient Bochy is with Jung especially if he gets off to a very slow start.

Texas Rangers Playoff Odds improve. Texas continues to improve their playoff odds with every win.. dark. Next

If Texas can get a Jung that is at least somewhat productive the last two weeks of the season it will make their lineup more competitive from one to nine on a nightly basis. It will make them harder for teams to pitch to. It will give them great opportunities to win on a nightly basis. That is the goal is to win every game. A healthy and productive Josh Jung gives the team that opportunity.

#4 Jonah Heim

Over the last few games, it is looking like Heim's bat is starting to come around. He had the grand slam against the Blue Jays in the first game of the series and had another home run in the last game of the series. Heim went 6-18 in that series as Texas won all four games to establish some distance between themselves and the Blue Jays.

Heim came off the IL back on August 13th and has been inconsistent at best and not good at his worst. Texas desperately needs Heim to be productive at the plate in order to win. When he is going well he not only is hitting for power, but he is lining balls into gaps and driving runners in. He has also recently resumed being able to switch-hit again. That was shown out on Monday night when the grand slam he hit was hit right-handed.

One of the more interesting stats for Heim is the difference in production in wins and losses. When Heim does play Texas has a 62-55 record. Heim in wins has a .323 batting average and a .947 OPS. That is compared to a .194 batting average and a .551 OPS when the team loses. That was shown out on Friday night when Heim went 0-2 with two strikeouts in a game Texas lost 12-3.

Heim already does so much for this team with his defensive play behind the plate including being one of the best in the league at framing pitches. They will need him to be the offensive force he was in Toronto on a nightly basis.

I would go so far as to say that Heim is the X-factor for this team. We kind of know what we are going to get from Marcus Semien, Seager and Nathaniel Lowe. If they can get production from Heim that certainly will make it more likely that they will win that game.

Texas is striving to end their playoff drought and we will know over the next two weeks if they are able to do that. It could come down to game 162. It will take a complete team effort as I mentioned earlier. Good or even great performances from these four players will go a long way toward determining if they will get there finish this sprint and qualify for the playoffs.

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