ARLINGTON — The subject Thursday morning turned to exit interviews, the stuff with which bottom-dwellers, such as the 2024 Texas Rangers, must occupy themselves during the final weeks of the season. Nothing to prep for in October, so best to get ready for next February.
As you can imagine, Bruce Bochy is going to have a lot to discuss with his players and nothing more so than the Great Offense Migration in which Ranger bats flew south for the summer.
“That’s an area that we really need to focus on,” Bochy said of offensive philosophy and execution. “Individually and collectively. Somehow, someway, we’ve got to make adjustments.”
And that was before the 4-0, two-hit loss to Toronto. Fans had come to Globe Life Field to see something special. They thought it would be Kumar Rocker’s home debut. Instead, it was Toronto’s Kevin Gausman beginning to flirt with a no-hitter. Maybe the only thing that prevented it was the stiff back that perhaps led to a fifth-inning walk of Nathaniel Lowe to give the Rangers their first baserunner of the day. The back definitely led to Gausman’s exit after just 58 pitches.
The Rangers managed a single in the seventh by Josh Smith off reliever Genesis Cabrera to break up the no-hitter, but Smith was thrown out trying to advance to second. They didn’t get another baserunner until Jonah Heim’s single through the left side in the ninth.
In all, the Rangers sent 29 baserunners to the plate, just two over the minimum. On the positive side, it was an improvement compared to Sunday when they managed only 27 in a one-hit loss to Seattle and George Kirby. It was the fourth time this year the Rangers have sent fewer than 30 hitters to the plate in a nine-inning game this season, tying the most games of such futility since the club moved to Arlington in 1972. It’s happened three times in the last month. Oh, it also officially eliminated them from the AL West race, not that anybody was paying much attention to that.
So, Boch, about that pre-game offensive stuff …
“You are going to have these kinds of games on occasion, but twice in four days, that’s not good,” he said. “We’ve got to find a way to create some kind of offense. We’ve had too many of these days where we are shut down completely.”
In exit interviews, Bochy and his staff will talk to some players about staying fresher next season, which might apply most to ironman Marcus Semien and catcher Jonah Heim, who appears worn down after the last two seasons. There will be different topics for different players. But just about all of them can count on getting something on this notion: Be better against the fastball.
It’s been a theme all year, but Gausman again fed the Rangers a steady diet of four-seamers (until his back made it too painful) and splitters. They were 0 for 5 against fastballs. The Rangers rank 27th in the majors in expected weighted on-base average against the four-seamer this year at .313. A year ago, they were 10th at .357.
But it’s not just the raw numbers against the fastball, it’s how it impacts their ability to hit other pitches as well. On Thursday, they were 0 for 8 against splitters with six strikeouts. All year, they’ve tried harder to catch up to fastballs without success while at the same time making themselves still a bit too early on off-speed stuff. Case in point: Adolis García. For much of the year, the Rangers have pleaded with García to make a change to his swing that would eliminate a small bat tilt at the start. That little motion, the staff contends, makes García a tick too late to get his leg down and his body set. As a result, he’s hitting .185 with a .321 slugging percentage against fastballs this year, the 11th worst in both categories among the 183 players to see at least 500 fastballs this year.
Bochy said Thursday morning that the Rangers had seen progress in just the last couple of games in eliminating the tilt. García had homered on a sinker on Wednesday to account for all the runs in a 2-0 win. On Thursday: Gausman struck him out twice with splitters after García fouled off a fastball earlier in each of the at-bats. Then García struck out for a third time to end the seventh, though it was a 10-pitch battle against Cabrera. He fouled off a pair of fastballs in the at-bat.
“We need to get on time better against the fastball,” Bochy said would be a message applicable to the entire team. “The numbers have shown it.”
The García situation was particularly acute, making his an easy-to-identify issue. Others have had issues as well. Wyatt Langford spent the first three months of the season swinging “uphill” in an exaggerated uppercut motion that took time to sort through. Heim’s bat has simply been slower this year. García’s extended struggles at the plate seem to also have bled over to drag his perceived energy level down.
“He’s a player that other players watch,” Bochy said before the game of García’s season. “When those players are going well, teams can feed off that in a positive way. But it can happen in a negative way, too. It’s not easy to maintain [that high-energy demeanor] when you are frustrated. But you have to realize you are one of the guys being watched.”
Right or wrong, he’s one of the faces of the club. He’s the Ranger most popular with fans and the teammate whose vibe is most infectious. And when he’s struggled, he’s personified everything that’s been wrong with the Rangers offense this year.
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