Texas Rangers First Half Awards

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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.

Most Improved Texas Ranger

The players in this category have made a tremendous leap forward from the 2022 season to the 2023 season. It would be almost impossible for this team to have 52 wins and be in first place if not for the work these players put in to improve their skills. The nominees for this category are Ezequiel Duran, Josh Sborz, and Leody Taveras.

Duran made the team out of camp for the first time in his career. His playing time the first two weeks was very sparse. He was coming in as a pinch hitter, getting occasional starts in left field or in the infield. That changed once Corey Seager pulled up lame to second base in Kansas City and had to go on the IL with a hamstring injury. Duran would eventually become the replacement shortstop for Seager. In that month he not only filled in for Seager, but also became a true offensive weapon. He made sure that the team was not missing anything either in the field or in the batters' box. He moved to primarily left field once Seager came back in May. His numbers in the first half had some fans talking about how he should have made the All Star team. At the break Duran has a .308 batting average, 12 home runs, 35 RBIs, and 29 total extra base hits. He has truly given depth to the lineup in a way the Rangers have not seen since their World Series days when players like Mike Napoli and Nelson Cruz were sometimes hitting near the bottom of the order.

Josh Sborz is the next nominee. There was talk in camp about him possibly not making the team. He was truly awful in spring training and if that is what Bochy was basing his decisions on then Sborz would have pitched elsewhere this season. Bochy remembered Sborz from his days as Giants manager when Sborz was in the Dodgers organization. He knew that there was more there than what Sborz was showing. They placed him on the IL out of camp. This allowed Sborz to keep working and he was brought up in April. He has been their best reliever for most of this season. He hit a rough patch heading into the break. In the month of June as the Rangers were struggling Sborz was excelling. He made 10 appearances in June, had three wins, gave up just one run, he pitched 16 1/3 innings, and had 0.55 ERA. He also struck out 22 batters and walked just two. It was his best month in a Rangers uniform. He has not been as successful in July. He has become one Bochy's more trusted relievers and has settled in a late-inning relief role for Texas.

The final nominee is Leody Taveras. The once-hyped top prospect is now starting to come into his own this season. He has been on a journey since making the Opening Day roster out of summer camp back in 2020. He survived that season. He then hit a rough patch in April 2021 and was sent down. He then started 2022 in Round Rock before playing his way back by June 2022. He then had an oblique injury that forced him to start this season on the IL. Since coming back he has now become one of the Rangers' best all-around players. He is still playing excellent defense and has now combined that with a solid offensive game. Taveras at the break has a .295 batting average, 10 home runs, 40 RBIs, and nine stolen bases. He has done all of this by primarily hitting ninth in the order. He has become that second lead off hitter. His success has led to several big innings this season because once he reaches base he passes the baton to Semien and Seager and the Rangers get rolling from there. It is hard to believe that the Texas offense would be as successful as they have been without Taveras taking a massive leap forward in the first half.

The Winner is....

Leody Taveras is the winner. He still has some things to work on defensively, but his offensive output has won the Rangers several games this season. There have been nights when the combination of him and Duran have really pushed the offense forward. He struggled initially in April and fans were calling for top prospect Evan Carter to take his job. If he continues this production throughout the second half the center field job is his and Carter will be moving to another position. He has been so good that fans are now content to let Carter stew in Frisco and eventually Round Rock.

Most Valuable Texas Ranger

Now on the most important category of the night and that is Most Valuable Texas Ranger. There are several worthy candidates of this award. Many players have stood out and helped carry this team throughout this first half of the season. It has been a complete team effort rather than a team carried by a singular great talent. Only three players can be nominated for this award though and it was tough to narrow this award down to these three names. The nominees for most valuable Texas Ranger are Dane Dunning, Nathan Eovaldi, and Corey Seager.

Dane Dunning has been valuable to this team because of the variety of roles he has had to fill this season. He came to camp having had hip surgery back in August of last season. He got into games early in camp and pitched well and earned a spot as long man in the bullpen. He came into plenty of games throughout April as the pitchers were still getting stretched out. Then deGrom went down and Dunning stepped right into the rotation and has been maybe their second best starter this season. Him and his wife had a child and he just continues to go out there every fifth day and pitch deep into games. He is having the best season of his career. Dunning is 8-2, with a 2.84 ERA, has six quality starts, and has allowed opposing batters a .236 batting average. If the Rangers trade for a starter it is not a guarantee at this point that Dunning would be the pitcher removed from the rotation.

The next nominee is Nathan Eovaldi. He signed here as a free agent back in December. He came to camp and immediately became the leader of the rotation. Most pitchers on the staff have stories about how Eovaldi has helped them with their mechanics, with their pitches, and just advice on pitching in general. He has embraced that staff mentor role and backed it up with great numbers that earned him a spot in the All-Star game. His most important start came back in April after deGrom was placed on the IL. He went out that night and pitched a complete game shutout against the Yankees and stepped into the role of staff ace. Eovaldi now has 10 wins on the season a team-high. He has a 2.83 ERA in 117 2/3 innings pitched, and has 109 strikeouts to 31 walks this season. He has been the definition of an ace. He has stopped losing streaks and has given the team a chance to win nearly every time he takes the mound. When it is Eovaldi day fans know that the Rangers should win that day.

The final nominee is Corey Seager. The new shift rules were expected to help all left-handed hitters. Last offseason it was discovered by Mike Petriello of MLB.com that no hitter lost more hits to the shift than Seager. It was assumed that with no shift that he would of course be able to increase his batting average this season. He has done that and so much more. He missed a month of the season with a hamstring injury and still has some of the best numbers among all shortstops. He was playing great before the injury and came back from the injury and picked up where he left of. The team has been struggling heading into the break, but not Seager. He has been a consistent source of production this entire season. Seager heads into play on Friday with a .353 batting, a .413 on-base percentage, and and 1.026 OPS. He has 12 home runs, 52 RBIs, and has 38 extra base hits. The 29-year old shortstop is truly living up to the contract he signed back in 2021. His production from the top of the order gives opportunities to the middle of the order to drive in runs. The team has been scuffling the last three weeks, but even so Seager is still hitting. He finished June with a .368 batting average and in the games in July he has a .395 batting average. He is playing the best baseball of his career this season.

The Winner is....

Nathan Eovaldi wins the award for most valuable Texas Ranger. What Eovaldi has done on the field would be reason enough to win this award. He has been their best starting pitcher and maybe the best free agent signing of the off-season. When you combine that with what he has done off the field it is an easy answer for who should win this award. It started in camp when he made sure that the pitchers were watching bullpen sessions even if they were not scheduled to throw. It has continued into the season as pitchers will gather in the bullpen to watch that night's starting pitcher warm up. Players such as Jon Gray and Dane Dunning have both complimented Eovaldi and advice that he has given them. I am sure there are other stories that just have not been told yet. Adding him and Mike Maddux to the pitching staff has helped in ways seen and unseen. He has been through the fires of a pennant race and I am sure he will use that experience to encourage pitchers and position players who have not been through those battles. This team will only go as far as Eovaldi will be able to take them.