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Aug 20, 2024 | 
nolanwritin.com | Jacob L. Stubbs
On Thursday night, former Vanderbilt teammates Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker in the Texas Rangers' farm system. Both are at pretty different places in their development, with Leiter having made his MLB debut but needed some work on his command, while Rocker is only a few starts off Tommy John and missing a full season of baseball. But on Thursday night they both gave hope to Rangers fans for the organization's pitching development.
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Aug 12, 2024 | 
nolanwritin.com | Jacob L. Stubbs
The theme of the 2024 Texas Rangers has been underwhelming offense. The Rangers rank just 19th in runs scored this season after the defending champions were third in 2023. The offensive fall off has been largely across the board. But a few players have struggled so badly this season that their job security may be in question not even a year after winning a World Series. The player and position that will be the biggest question mark this offseason is Adolis Garcia and right field.
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Jul 24, 2024 | 
nolanwritin.com | Jacob L. Stubbs
Andrew Heaney signed a two-year, $25 million deal with the Texas Rangers prior to the 2023 season. The Rangers won a World Series in Heaney's first year while he had an up-and-down season. Now just a few months later, the defending champions sit in a gray area and must debate whether to sell at the deadline. If they were to sell, Heaney would be a prime candidate. The left-hander hitting a hot streak at the moment has changed a lot for Texas.
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Jul 13, 2024 | 
nolanwritin.com | Jacob L. Stubbs
Right before the 2024 season, the Rangers picked up Michael Lorenzen on a one-year, $4.5 million deal. Lorenzen has been an incredible pickup so far. He has far outperformed Jordan Montgomery, who many Rangers fans (including myself) wanted re-signed last offseason. Maybe more importantly to an organization that has been tightening their pockets with no TV deal for 2025: he was much cheaper.
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Jul 11, 2024 | 
nolanwritin.com | Jacob L. Stubbs
Last Friday, one of the Rangers top ranked pitching prospects and former No. 3 overall pick Kumar Rocker began a rehab assignment for the ACL Rangers. What a journey it's been. Rocker gave up one run in his first rehab start via a home run to the leadoff hitter. After that, he only allowed one more hit over the next two innings while striking out three batters. He finished up two innings of work on just 15 pitches. Rocker also already touched 99 MPH with his fastball in just his first rehab start.
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Jun 21, 2024 | 
nolanwritin.com | Jacob L. Stubbs
After an incredible 2023 postseason, Texas Rangers fans believed Adolis Garcia was poised for another great season helping lead the offensive charge. But so far, that just hasn't been the case. Garcia will always be a Rangers legend for what he did last October. From almost single-handedly knocking out the Houston Astros in Games 6 and 7 of the ALCS, to erasing all-time Rangers foe David Freese's name from the record books with his walk-off home run in Game 1 of the World Series.
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Jun 15, 2024 | 
nolanwritin.com | Jacob L. Stubbs
It feels like a broken record to say at this point, but the 2024 Texas Rangers are struggling and look like a shell of the championship team fans saw last year. The starting rotation has taken some major hits and has yet to be anywhere close to full strength so far this season. On the flip side, the offensive production from last year largely returned and has been available (hough they are not producing near the same level as 2023).
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Jun 8, 2024 | 
nolanwritin.com | Jacob L. Stubbs
The Rangers finished up their series with the Tigers on Wednesday night with a satisfying 9-1 win. Look at that! The offense showed up. After totaling two runs over the first two games of the series, they exploded Wednesday. This series was a microcosm of the season, however, as the Rangers have mostly struggled to score but have had an occasional offensive outburst. We are deep enough into the 2024 season to realize that the inconsistency of the Rangers offense is a major problem.
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Jun 2, 2024 | 
nolanwritin.com | Jacob L. Stubbs
The Rangers have had a disappointing first couple months of the season. The team was expected to rely again on the potent offense we saw last year, but it hasn't been there. While the offense as a whole has not been the same, at least one piece of it has returned to form. En route the World Series title last season the Rangers averaged 5.44 runs per game during the regular season. So far in the 2024 season, the Rangers are averaging 4.45 runs per game.
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May 21, 2024 | 
nolanwritin.com | Jacob L. Stubbs
The 2024 season has begun quite differently than 2023 for the defending champions. En route to the Texas Rangers first championship, the 2023 team began in red-hot fashion and were 40-20 through the first 60 games. This year, the Rangers hit their 20th loss in just game No. 42 and the energy surrounding them has not been good. For one, they are very injured. But the other part of why things feel so bad right now has to do with the Rangers not doing a few things particularly well.
