Texas Rangers Who’s Hot? Who’s Not? Week 14

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 good one. They won five straight series, then saw that streak end in a two-game set against dreaded Houston, but hey, things are still going OK for a bad, hot team. Let’s get to the fun!

*This needs to be mentioned: Shin-Soo Choo’s on-base streak is still alive, and he’s now just three games shy of the franchise record. Make this man an All-Star.

Who’s Hot?

Jurickson Profar — In his last four games, Profar has been hitting at a .353/.421/.471 triple-slash with two doubles, three RBIs and six runs. With each passing week, it seems as though he’s carving out a place on a Major League roster, whether it’s here or elsewhere.

Rougned Odor — Continuing a promising development, Odor has been on an uptick as of late and appears to really be tightening up his strike zone and being more selective. It’s obvious someone got in his ear and made whatever he said stick, which was a giant question mark when it came to the free-swinging Odor. Over his last five games, he’s batting .350 with a double, homer and four RBIs. But check this out: Over that time, he also has four walks and four strikeouts. That’s amazing, given his history.

Yovanni Gallardo — Our old friend is having a pretty nice stint in his return to the Rangers. After spending time in Round Rock and finally getting a shot back in the bigs, Gallardo has put together two straight good starts. His last time out, he went 7 ¹⁄₃ innings and gave up three runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and a lone walk.

Who’s Not?

Cole Hamels — In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think Hamels’ trade value is taking a nose-dive like some folks seem to think. But it hasn’t been great lately. In his last start, Hamels allowed seven runs in five innings on nine hits. He is, however, still missing bats, as he fanned seven and walked none in that game. He’ll be traded, and he’ll bring something pretty decent back if he’s paired up with a reliever.

Joey Gallo — Things just aren’t getting much better for Gallo. It’s hard to watch after his giant steps forward he made last season, but he seems to have regressed greatly and it’s showing in his numbers. In his last five games, he’s batting .200 with three hits — a triple and two home runs. In a huge case of finding some silver lining, he does have four walks in that time, which ties him for the team lead in the last week, but it’s not much consolation.