Tagged: ian kinsler
Keys To Success/Failure: Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers
Keys To Success
Hitting
Fielding
Why Hitting?
The Rangers have long been
viewed as a great-hit-no-pitch team, and rightfully so. Just this season have they managed to
put together a respectable pitching staff and bullpen that should be just good
enough to get to the playoffs. But
the real key to the Rangers’ success remains their hitting. Texas in fourth overall in hitting in
the AL. The Rangers’ main
strength, aided by their ballpark, is the homerun. They are second in the AL in homeruns, four of their
starting nine have over 10 HR’s: DH Hank Blalock (13), 1B Chris Davis (13), 2B
Ian Kinsler (17), and RF Nelson Cruz (18). The Rangers are also a excellent baserunning team, they are
third in the AL with 52 stolen bases.
Why Fielding?
Texas has an excellent
fielding team. While the rank near
the middle of the AL in errors and fielding%, the metric UZR/150 provides a
different story. Using UZR/150,
(excluding catchers), shows that the Rangers deffense will save the team 19.9
runs over the course of 150
games. The worst culprit in
the Rangers defense is 3B Michael Young, with a -25.2 UZR/150, but he’s still
adjusting to third base. What
really exemplifies the Rangers’ defense is that they are one of the best
infields in baseball at turning double plays.
A Improvement?
None necessary. (Except maybe the pitching)
What’s A DH?/AL .OPS Teams
- What was a DH?
Originally, a DH was just an opportunity to put an extra hitter in the lineup, an attempt to pull the AL out of a era of great pitchers. The popular notion was that fans preferred high-scoring games over low scoring games, and that having higher-scoring games would entice more fans to attend games. In short, it was just another way to make money.
- What is a DH?
The DH spot is now a spot to stick overweight multimillionaires who have no idea how to play the field, (see Ortiz, David) . These players earn a comfy salary for tearing the cover off the ball every 2-3 innings, (or not tearing the cover off the ball, see Ortiz, David), while their teammates stand out in the field for 9 innings doing most of the work. The DH has done what is was supposed to have done!!! Now get rid of it!!!!!!
