5 questions the Texas Rangers answered during the 2022 season

Click here to see five questions the Rangers created during the 2022 season.

Here are five significant issues the Rangers seemed to find very viable answers for in 2022.

Adolis García’s 2021 season was not a fluke

After a second-half tailspin during his rookie season, the question was whether García could make the continual adjustments needed to be a productive everyday player.

In 2022, he improved his walk rate and line drive rate while lowering his strikeout rate. And he’s flirted with a .800 OPS throughout the second half. Those are all trends that support sustainability.

What’s left for 2023: Improve splits vs. lefties. He’s oddly been a “reverse-splits” hitter his first two years, more successful against right-handers than lefties.

Nathaniel Lowe belongs

The team’s most consistent hitter all year showed a willingness to be more aggressive at the plate and an ability to hit velocity. He went from somewhat passive at the plate to a predator and neither his on-base percentage nor his overall numbers suffered.

He went into the final four games of the year with the same OBP (.357) as 2021 but was seventh in batting average (.302) and OPS (.853). He also gained enough confidence in starting his swing a touch earlier to hit hard fastballs. He went from hitting .208 against 94 mph or better fastballs in 2021 to .295 in 2022.

The defense will always require work, but first base is an offensive-first position. And he was elite in that regard.

The infield is set

With the signings of Marcus Semien and Corey Seager in free agency, both of whom put up 25-homer, 150-game campaigns in their first seasons, the emergence of Lowe and the arrival of Josh Jung, the infield is entrenched.

It’s the most certainty the Rangers have had to the infield in a decade.

Jung’s first month in the majors has had some highs (a homer in his first MLB at-bat) and lows (an 0 for 20), but he appears to be the kind of advanced hitter who is able to learn from experiences and apply them. Four weeks in the majors will go a long way to mitigating typical first-year issues.

This team can run

The Rangers led the majors in stolen bases and there is promise for even more of the kind of “chaos” former manager Chris Woodward wanted to create.

Marcus Semien, allowed to run for the first time in his career, and Adolis García each reached 25 steals and the possibility of them both going 30-30 is not unthinkable.

The possibility of full years for lightning-fast Bubba Thompson and Leody Taveras could give the Rangers four guys capable of 25 steals. Having a Thompson, Taveras or Eli White on the bench would create a lot of late-inning opportunities that might lead to more wins in close games.

Next year, with bigger bases (meaning slightly shorter distances between bases) and limited pickoff throws, teams that can run will pose even bigger threats.

There is a catching foundation

On the surface, it appeared the Rangers’ catching plan, the one that led to Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Jose Trevino returning to Arlington in October as members of the AL East champion Yankees, blew up.

Mitch Garver, obtained from Minnesota for Kiner-Falefa, was in pain from the start. It led to the Rangers giving Jonah Heim full-time work.

And sometimes, the best things are the unplanned things.

Through his first 90 games, Heim hit .252/.322/.443./.765. He wore down afterward, which is not unexpected given the far-heavier-than-usual workload. But he still managed to rank second in the majors in framing.

With Garver expected back and healthy next year, a 90-70 split, with Garver DH-ing the rest of the time, is very attractive. And, yes, Sam Huff is still around, developing, perhaps in the minors most of the year, but catchers develop slower. Huff is only 24.

+++

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.