Texas Rangers Aced Addressing Their Most Glaring Lineup Need This Offseason

The Texas Rangers had the worst designated hitter production in baseball last year but that should change this season.

Oct 24, 2022; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers general manager Chris Young speaks during a news conference introducing Bruce Bochy as team manager at Globe Life Field. / Jim Cowsert-Imagn Images

When taking a look at the Texas Rangers batting order, it is hard to imagine they would have any position rank near the bottom of the league in production.

Their projected lineup heading into 2024 included five players who have made the All-Star team previously; catcher Jonah Heim, second baseman Marcus Semien, shortstop Corey Seager, third baseman Josh Jung and right fielder Adolis Garcia.

Emerging youngsters such as left fielder Wyatt Langford, center fielder Evan Carter and the versatile Josh Smith, along with steady veterans like first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, Robbie Grossman and Travis Jankowski, created excellent depth for Bruce Bochy to work with.

Unfortunately for the Rangers, it just wasn’t meant to be in 2024, as they fell woefully short of expectations in defense of their 2023 World Series championship.

Injuries played a major role in the team’s regression, and the players who were healthy were unable to replicate the production provided the previous year.

It resulted in some holes in the lineup that were impossible to overcome, but none were worse than designated hitter.

Texas had the worst collective OPS+ in baseball last year from the designated hitter’s spot with a 58.

18 different players received at-bats; Langford and Garcia, with 105 and 101, were the two players used most frequently.

All together, Rangers designated hitters produced an abysmal slash line of .204/.263/.322.

Knowing they needed a little more pop in the lineup, president of baseball operations and general manager Chris Young got to work addressing the need this offseason.

He did an excellent job, acquiring Jake Burger in a trade with the Miami Marlins and signing veteran Joc Pederson in free agency away from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In the opinion of Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, Texas aced it this winter when it came to upgrading its most glaring weakness. Going through the improvements made to the least productive positions around baseball in 2024, the Rangers received an “A” for the work they did.

The only other franchise to receive an “A” grade was the Boston Red Sox.

As for the Rangers, Burger and Pederson are a legitimate power duo to add to the order that will lengthen the lineup. They combined for 52 home runs last year, as the slugging infielder as a career home run rate of 5.4% and the two-time All-Star outfielder owns a 4.9% home run rate.

It will be interesting to see who platoons with Pederson as his right-handed hitting complement.

But, regardless of who lands that role, Texas is going to receive a lot more production from that spot in their order in 2025.

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