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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 hasn’t been a great one. The team is basically limping along to the finish line now and are currently in the midst of a 6-16 stretch, which is the worst 24-game stretch of the season for the Rangers. Basically, other than the fact Adrian Beltre could have his final handful of games ahead, there’s not much living for.
Who’s Hot?
Adrian Beltre — What more needs to be said? This man is simply a national treasure, and if he is playing his final few games in Arlington this weekend, he’s going out with a bang. He mashed his 475th career home run on Wednesday and is sporting a .316/.381/.737 triple-slash over the last week. Not even ashamed to say it, I’m going to the game Sunday afternoon and will probably shed tears when Chuck announces him. Gonna get reeeeeaal dusty there.
Jurickson Profar — On the other end of the spectrum, the young former top prospect in all of baseball is putting together a promising year, and he’s also finishing on a hot streak. He’s made the Rangers’ decision on what to do with him really interesting, and probably pretty hard, too. He’s batting .300 with a .333 on-base clip in the last five games, and he also has two home runs in that time, which puts him at 18 for the year. Profar could actually hit 20 bombs this year, which I’m not sure I would’ve believed back in March.
Mike Minor — Going into 2019, Mike Minor is the best starting pitcher this club has on its roster, which is good and bad. Bad because he’s not an ace, but good because the Rangers took a risk signing him to a really affordable deal and it’s starting to look like it’s going to pay off handsomely. After another fine outing in his last start, Minor is now sporting a 2.72 ERA with a 6-1 record since the all-star break.
Who’s Not?
Yohander Mendez — One of the youngsters vying for time in the rotation next year isn’t going so well at the moment. In his last two outings, Mendez has a bloated 7.27 ERA with 12 hits allowed in his last 8 2⁄3 innings.
Rougned Odor — One of the brightest spots of this bad year has been the resurgence of Odor in the field and especially at the plate. But man, things aren’t good right now. In the last week, he’s 2-for-20. No bueno.