Texas Rangers Who’s Hot? Who’s Not? Week Five

Welcome to a new weekly series, as we’ll take a look at a few Rangers who are on heaters and more who are ice cold in something we’ll call “Who’s Hot? Who’s Not?”

It’s been far from fantastic, but there have been some promising signs over the last week. At the very least, it’s been fun to watch the Rangers’ rag-tag group of 25-and-unders see some success and hover around .500 baseball. Let’s get to the picks.

Who’s Hot?

Delino DeShields — When the speedy center fielder returned from the disabled list WAY ahead of schedule, it was promising. But he was struggling at the plate while showing us he can, in fact, play center field. Now, that bat’s starting to come around, and it’s going to be fun seeing him get to play every day and settle in as this club’s leadoff hitter for the next decade (we hope...). DeShields is sporting a .346/.393/.577 over the last six games with three doubles, five runs and even a bomb. He’s 2-for-2 on stolen bases in that time, too.

Nomar Mazara — The Big Chill has been on a massive heater over the last six games, cashing in on two doubles, two homers and a team-high seven RBIs in that span. He has a .308/.357/.615 slash in that time, and he’s struck out (3) just once more than he’s walked (2) in that time.

Doug Fister — His first start off the disabled list was very good, as he fell just shy of seven innings while allowing just two unearned runs on six hits. When the Rangers signed him, we all knew he was going to be “solid,” and if he can just be that, then I’ll be happy.

Who’s Not?

Matt Moore — It almost feels weird, and a bit unfair, sticking Moore here. He’d been pitching well leading up to Wednesday’s afternoon start in Cleveland, and he had a terrible day. Only thing was, the Rangers’ bullpen was so fried, they had no choice but to leave him in the game and let him take a pounding. When it was all over, he’d allowed 10 runs — all earned — in four innings of work. He was a sacrificial lamb, and it wasn’t pretty. Here’s to hoping he can flush that outing and get back to what he’d been showing before.

Ronald Guzman — In another case of “does-he-really-deserve-to-be-here,” Guzman finds himself in the bad half of this weekly post after he’s managed just three hits in his last 15 at-bats. In that time, he’s struck out six times and walked none. Still, though, Guzman has shown a tendency to come up with clutch hits in key situations in his very small sample size. Not gonna hate too much on the Condor.