Texas Rangers: 5 areas of improvement for the Rangers after the Astros series

Ezequiel Duran is far from a finished product

The second-year sensation has had a tremendous first half of the season. No one can deny that he has shown massive amounts of improvement from year one to year two. He is having better at-bats, making more contact, and driving the ball to all fields. He has been amazing to watch in the field as well whether at shortstop or in the outfield. He still does struggle against the really good teams.

The best three teams Texas has played this season are Tampa, Atlanta, and Houston. Duran against those three teams is a combined 4-40, with 15 strikeouts. This weekend Duran was 0-12 with eight strikeouts in the first three games of the series. Bochy did not play Duran on Monday, opting instead for Josh Smith in this game.

Duran is still just 24 years old. There is a lot of tough competition coming for Texas after the break and they will need Duran to contribute in those games. Houston really attacked Duran by just keeping the ball up in the zone and away. He saw very few pitches middle-in this weekend. Baseball is full of copycats and scouts. Look for Duran to see more pitches up in the zone as scouting reports will say that is where he can be retired. It will be up to the young star to make the changes necessary to combat that line of attack.

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