Texas Rangers Who’s Hot? Who’s Not? Week 10

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?”

The last week of Rangers baseball has been a fun one. The youngsters keep producing, they just SWEPT a (two-game) series from a divisional foe and they drafted more than two dozen pitchers. Buckle up, let’s talk about the week that was Rangers baseball and who’s hot, and who’s not.

Who’s Hot?

Jurickson Profar — I’m still not penciling him as a long-term player in Arlington, but the maturation of Jurickson Profar this year has been fun to watch. And right now, it’s really fun. Over the last six games, he’s sporting a .304/.333/.783 triple-slash with two doubles, three bombs and six RBIs — of course, the majority of that came in Wednesday’s monster effort when he was hitting in the cleanup spot.

Shin-Soo Choo — Mr. Reliable continues to get it done and has possibly been the best player on the team this year. In his last six games, Choo is batting .300 with a .391 on-base percentage. There’s a possibility he’ll be gone come July 31, but it’d take some maneuvering. If you have to overpay for a guy, you at least hope he’s a really good contributor, and that he is.

Cole Hamels — In his last outing, Hamels was magnificent. Before he takes the hill tonight to open a series against rival Houston and Gerritt Cole, let’s not forget about what he did last time out — seven innings, five hits, eight strikeouts and one walk, with his only damage coming in the form of two solo home runs, which has been his biggest kryptonite this year.

Who’s Not?

Mike Minor — The Mike Minor Experiment is starting to go south. His last time out, he lasted just five innings and gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks. He’s already reaching a pretty uncomfortably high innings number for a guy who was a reliever coming off a couple of years missed due to arm trouble. The Rangers won’t, and shouldn’t, give up on him, but it’s been a rough go as of late.

Delino DeShields — Ugh. This is getting frustrating. In his last six games, he’s batting .053 (1-for-19) with three walks. He does have two stolen bases (hooray!) but he’s now hitting .202 on the season with a .295 OBP and has lost his leadoff spot, where he was supposed to be cemented all year. Hopefully a drop to the No. 9 spot will help him get back on his feet.