Texas Rangers' defense quietly keeping team competitive despite struggles

The Texas Rangers defense has been sneaky dominate over the last few seasons but seems to continually get overlooked because of the success or failure of the rest of the team.

In 2025, that idea has not changed much. As the Rangers' pitching is shining and the offense is failing, those two areas of the Rangers' performance seems to get more talk for better or worse that the team's defensive effort goes by the waste-side.

Rangers rank among top teams in several defensive categories

We are 78 games into the 2025 regular season and the Rangers have only recorded 25 errors in the field, the fewest in Major League Baseball with the Seattle Mariners' 28 errors trailing close behind.

On top of the errors, Texas leads the league in fielding percentage (.991) and runs above average (40) while being the third-best team in defensive runs saved (42) and 12th in assists (670). If we go back to May 9, Texas has the fewest errors, 8, in all of the big leagues.

This has been a common trait of the Rangers over the last few seasons. Back during the 2023 World Series year, the Rangers committed just 57 errors in the regular season, second in the league to their World Series opponent, Arizona Diamondbacks with 56 errors. Surprisingly, those efforts were lead by Leody Taveras and Jonah Heim.

In 2025, it's Josh Smith leading the way on the defensive side, all while playing 7 different on-field positions in the first few months of the year. In nearly 450 innings, Smith has a .988 fielding percentage and only one error. Mix that with his team-leading batting average, Smith has a 2.0 WAR this season.

We are also seeing a complete turnaround is from outfielder Adolis Garcia, who has a .994 fielding percentage in his 606 2/3 innings in right field and continues to make shining play after shining play.

Catchers are also defenders as well and Kyle Higashioka is one of the best backstops in the game when it comes to calling games. The 35-year-old veteran catcher has the second-best games caught ERA in the league at 2.69.

We always hear that defense wins championships or at least puts you in a good position to do so. It was displayed in 2023 with both World Series teams committing the least amount of errors all year. The pitching and defense have done their jobs to make that a reality, now the offense needs to follow suit.