Rangers face concerns after with two unexpected slow starts to season

We're ten games into the Rangers' season and they have taken a somewhat unexpected path to a 5-5 record, having gone 4-2 on the road but just 1-3 at home.

There have also been a few slow starts that were not expected based on their spring training success and track records as major leaguers. Both are somewhat concerning as we hit the two-week mark into the brand new season.

Josh Smith is not making fans forget about former Ranger Marcus Semien

Yes, it's still very early in the season, but Smith's slow start is concerning for a couple of reasons.

First, he was essentially gifted the everyday second base job after Marcus Semien was traded away this past offseason for Brandon Nimmo. Nimmo is doing a fine job making Chris Young and fans believe they got the better end of that deal with his hot start. However, Semien's successor at second base is not as he is off to a woefully slow start at the plate.

There were concerns about Smith's ability to be the type of ironman that Semien was throughout an entire season, as he has had a track record of all-star caliber first halves followed by second-half swoons in both 2024 and 2025.

Through the first ten games, Smith has started the year 3-for-29 with an abysmal slash line of .103/.235/.103. His exit velocity is down, and he is not working counts the way new manager Skip Schumaker has challenged his players to.

It is worth monitoring to see if Smith can get things going, as the Rangers are not married to the idea of him being an automatic start at second, and he is already being pushed down the lineup card.

Wyatt Langford is making a habit of this disturbing trend

Another Rangers' slugger we didn't see starting so slowly is the franchise's golden child, left-fielder Wyatt Langford.

For a second straight year, he destroyed opposing pitchers in spring training Cactus League play, mashing five homers and hitting well over .400. Still, when the games begin to count in late March and April, his bat goes ice cold, and the power goes out.

Langford does have two doubles and two triples, but is just 7-for-44 (.159) overall and has yet to hit a home run. Maybe even more concerning is his zero walks thus far, which means he is not being as discerning on close pitches and is too eager to make something happen. It has led to him stranding more runners on base than any other Ranger.

Langford's track record suggests that he will be much better moving forward, but if he and Smith had gotten off to the starts that most had envisioned, the team would be sitting much better than .500 through 10 games.