The Texas Rangers are in a hurry. Today, by winning Game 3 of the series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, they consolidated their first place in the American League West. Houston is chasing fiercely, but Texas isn’t allowing a chase either.안전놀이터
Texas: 31-18 / .633 win rate
Houston: 28-21 / .571 win rate
Just a year ago, Texas was a team with less than a .500 win rate (68-94). In 2021, they suffered 102 losses, the third most in single-season team history. The appearance he shows this year is no different from a metamorphosis.
Last winter Texas invested over $250 million in the mound alone. By recruiting the starting trio of Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eboldi, and Andrew Heaney, he made up for the weakness of last year’s starting ERA of 25th (4.63). In fact, Texas is ranked third overall with a 3.25 ERA as a starting pitcher. Eboldi’s performance, which won his second complete game of the season yesterday, is decisive.
Eboldi’s last 5 matches pitching
9.0 innings 0 runs
8.0 innings 0 runs
8.2 innings 0 runs
7.0 innings 3 runs 9.0
innings 1 run
*4 wins ERA 0.86 (4 runs in 41.2 innings)
But Texas’ high-flying streak isn’t just thanks to the starters. A distinctive line is exploding. He is the only player in the major leagues to average more than 6 points per game. He is averaging 6.33 points in 49 games. His 12 double-digit runs are also the most in the major leagues. This is the team where the hitters steal more runs when the pitchers steal runs.
Texas is characterized by all hitters leading the offense. First of all, ‘500 million dollar duo’ Marcus Simeon and Corey Seeger are building a strong table setter. Simeon ranked first in the American League victory contribution rate (2.5) on ‘Fangraph.com’. Seager, who returned from last week’s hamstring injury, ranks third in OPS (1.009) among American League hitters with 70 or more at-bats.
Center hitter Adolis Garcia ranks first in the major leagues in RBI, and Jonah Haim has grown from a defensive catcher to an offensive and defensive catcher (batting average of .273 with 6 home runs). Rookie Josh Young is one of the candidates for the American League Rookie of the Year (.273 batting average with 11 homers). Four of the league’s top 10 players in scoring and four of the top 10 players in RBI are Texas players.
1. Simeon: 45 points
2. Garcia: 41 points
3. Low: 37 points 7.
Young: 33 points 1.
Garcia: 49 points 4. Simeon:
40 points
7. Young: 34 points
10. Heim: 33 points
Simeon and Seager are proven players. The first year after moving to Texas, the results were disappointing, but they were players who did not have to worry. Prior to this season, Simeon said, “Last year, I felt a lot of pressure because I thought I had to take on the role of a leader.”
With the arrival of the two players, it was only natural that the weight of the other line would increase. However, it is surprising that most of the players’ skills have improved as they are now. These changes can be confirmed only by widening the field of view. In the meantime, Texas has changed not only the composition of players but also the coaching staff.
In November 2021, Texas hired Tim Hiers as their new hitting coach. As hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox, Hiers was known for his ability to find the right launch angle for hitters. Leaving Boston for Texas was not a move due to poor performance. In 2021, Boston averaged 5.12 points per game (fourth). Team batting average (.261) and team OPS (.777) were third overall.
Hiers helped hitters distinguish pitch types. As a result, batters’ ability to cope with breaking balls has been greatly improved. In 2018-21, when Highers was in Boston, Boston was first overall with a .242 batting average against breaking balls during this period. During the same period, Texas ranked only 26th. However, this year, the second year since Hiers came to Texas, Texas has risen to second place in terms of batting average against breaking balls.
Breaking ball Opponent team batting average
0.263 – Tampa Bay
0.262 – Texas
0.247 – Angels
0.236 – Dodgers
*Including Slider & Curve & Sweeper
The player who benefited the most was Garcia. Compared to last season, the performance against Breaking Ball has improved greatly. His batting average went from .201 to .271, and his slugging percentage jumped from .379 to .543. Garcia put up with Yoo In-gu out of the zone, and he was reborn as a more threatening hitter, hitting only the balls he needed to hit. The fact that Chase’s batting percentage in the out zone has dropped from 37.3% last year to 27.8% this year shows a different approach.
There is one more leader who has influenced others. Texas appointed San Francisco Giants hitting coach Donnie Ecker as bench coach just before Hires was brought in. Ecker, who also serves as hitting coordinator, is the person who drew the blueprint for the Texas offense along with Hiers.
Ecker rose to prominence with San Francisco’s success in 2021. At that time, San Francisco rebounded with Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford, and Donovan Solano, Lamonte Wade Jr., and Darin Ruff performed more than expected. It was a similar situation in Texas this year.
That year, San Francisco took the unusual step of hiring three hitting coaches to strengthen their specialties. Ecker was the coach who stood out the most during this process. ‘Baseball America’ also announced that the rise of San Francisco’s batting line was conducted by Ecker, while selecting Ecker as the coach of the year in 2021.
Ecker is in charge of overseeing the game in Texas. He emphasizes the need for a good game plan model. Even in an interview with a media outlet, he said, “Coaches have to play the game before they play it.” If Hiers is in charge of the hitting mechanic, Acker helps the technique to be applied well in the game. Regarding this, someone once said, “If discovering the strengths of a player is the first step, then the second step is to see what parts of the team can be improved by those strengths. No matter how good you are, you can’t find polar bears in Africa.” there is.
Like this, there were efforts in the visible and invisible parts behind the improvement of the Texas lineup this year. The coaches led the change with a sense of responsibility, and the players accepted the change with faith. As each other responds to each other, the Texas lineup’s total baseball is showing its power.