:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60998561/usa_today_11102478.0.jpg)
Welcome to our weekly series where 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 bit of a rollercoaster. Overall, they’re playing pretty good baseball, but then they ran into the red-hot A’s and were shut out in two straight before pulling out a win in Wednesday’s series finale.
Who’s Hot?
Joey Gallo — In his last seven games, Gallo has continued his tear he’s been enjoying since the all-star break. In those seven, Gallo is carrying a .381/.480/.857 triple-slash and an other-worldly 1.337 OPS. He has four doubles and two homers with five RBIs and four walks. Since the break, Gallo leads the team with a 1.075 OPS, just a notch above Rougned Odor, who’s arguably been the best player in baseball since the break.
Shin-Soo Choo — His home run on the first pitch of Wednesday’s afternoon’s game was his first homer in the last six games, but he’s producing in other ways. Choo has three doubles and three walks and is sporting a .348 batting average and .423 on-base percentage in that six-game span.
Jose Leclerc — Props again to Mike Minor for another stellar start on Wednesday, but Jose Leclerc has been fantastic since taking over the closer’s role from Keone Kela after his trade to Pittsburgh. The young righty, with an affinity for striking guys out and making them look silly, has three saves in three chances in the last week and has six strikeouts and no walks in that time. He’s allowed just one hit.
Who’s Not?
Nomar Mazara — Since returning from a trip to the disabled list, Mazara has struggled to rediscover his stroke. Despite being moved into the cleanup spot to bump Adrian Beltre back to No. 5 in the order, he’s struggled to the tune of a .185 batting average and a .575 OPS.
Ariel Jurado — The rookie pitcher has shown a couple of flashes but mainly looks to be a guy who isn’t ready for this stage yet, which is exactly what he is. Jurado has allowed 10 earned runs in 11 2⁄3 innings over his last couple of starts. In those, he’s allowed 19 hits.