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

#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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