Texas Rangers First Half Awards

The Texas Rangers resume playing on Friday night. The Rangers entered the All-Star break having played 30 games in 31 days and so every day of rest they can get is welcomed. In lieu of talking about game action I wanted to recap what happened in the first half of the season by unveiling who has won the midseason awards for the Texas Rangers.

We will be handing out awards for Rookie of the first half, most improved player, and most valuable player. So, before we get started lets recap where the Rangers stand at the break. This team is currently 52-39 on the season and are in first place in the AL West. They are in first place at the break for the first time since 2016. They sent six players to the All Star game and have several players worthy of these awards. Enough with the recap lets get the awards.

Best Rookie performance in the first half

The Rangers are led by a group of veterans, but the case can be made that they have been sustained by performances of the rookies that are on the roster. There are three nominees in this category. They are Grant Anderson, Cody Bradford, and Josh Jung.

Anderson has been with the team since the end of May when he was brought up during the series against the Detroit Tigers. He had a very memorable debut as he struck out seven batters in 2 2/3 innings. Since then he has settled in as a late inning reliever in Bruce Bochy's bullpen. Since coming up Anderson has made 16 appearances, pitching in 23 1/3 innings, and has 22 strike outs. He has a 3.86 ERA. He entered the break pitching four scoreless innings against the Nationals.

The second nominee is Cody Bradford. Bradford had a rough debut back on May 15th. He was brought up to give the rotation an extra day of rest and started against the Atlanta Braves. He did pitch five innings, but gave up six runs and two home runs in that start. He was sent down after that start. Since that night the Braves have shown that they are the best team in the league. Bradford has come back up since then and made four starts and two relief appearances and has given up seven runs total in those 21 2/3 innings. He has become the de-facto sixth starter of the rotation and is likely to have a role in the bullpen/rotation in the second half. He entered the break having picked up his first career win against the Nationals on July 7th. He pitched five innings in that start and gave up one run.

The final nominee is Josh Jung. He made his first all-star team having been voted in by fans. He put up a .280 batting average, with 19 home runs, 56 RBIs, and a .835 OPS. He has played great defense at third and provided solid production from the fifth spot in the order. Overall he has been one of the best third baseman in the American League. He does have some issues with runners in scoring position and he still does strike out too much. He has 106 strikeouts to just 24 walks. He needs to cut that down and he needs to have the same mentality hitting with runners on base that he does when no runners are on base. One example of this poor production is that with runners on second and third he has a .118 batting average with just two hits in 17 at-bats and seven strikeouts. Other than that he has been much better than expected and is a real reason why this team has played as well as they have.

The Winner is....

Josh Jung. Of course it is. He has been the best rookie for Texas and is one of the front-runners for AL Rookie of the Year. He defense at third has saved Texas on several occasions and he has been a solid contributor on offense. I love what Anderson and Bradford have brought to the team, but Jung is the award winner here. He has been here since Opening Day and has made the biggest impact on this team.