00:00The Astros came into that series, because you know how we've heard a lot, like when the Rangers struggle offensively.
00:06Oh, you know, we had to face this pitcher and that pitcher, and they're the best pitchers at all pitching
00:10and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:12Going into this series, Astros had the worst staff ERA in all of baseball.
00:19Astros had the worst staff whip in all of baseball.
00:23Astros had the fifth worst opponent's batting average against in all of baseball.
00:27So this is an objectively terrible pitching staff.
00:32And here's what happened.
00:34You know about the one hit in Friday's game.
00:38But on Saturday, the Rangers had one run on six hits, which means in 18 innings of baseball, they had
00:49one run on seven hits.
00:50By the way, that one hit on Friday was from Justin Foscue.
00:54Let's go.
00:54And I always want to see Justin Foscue succeed, but if that's what you're falling back on, probably not a
01:00great plan offensively.
01:01So I decided to just look a little bit further into every single inning and make sure I didn't miss
01:06it.
01:07Obviously, they had no multi-hit innings on Friday.
01:11Saturday, they had three hits in the seventh.
01:14Okay.
01:16And then one in the second, one in the fourth, one in the ninth.
01:19What does that mean?
01:20So you're not getting runners around in those innings.
01:23Although, on Saturday, you had a plethora of walks and hit-by pitches, so they made sure to beef that
01:28category, too.
01:30But think about it.
01:30That means in the first 18 innings against probably the worst pitching staff in baseball,
01:36the Rangers had one multi-hit inning.
01:41One out of 18.
01:44Dang.
01:45This is the lowest OPS you've had in, like, six years.
01:51That doesn't surprise me.
01:53This is the lowest batting average you've had since the COVID season.
01:59So that would lead you to believe that, obviously, they're not scoring any runs, right?
02:04Let's go to Jamie Newberg from the Newberg Report.
02:09MLB, because MLB offenses are struggling this year.
02:12Offense is down across the board.
02:15I will readily admit that.
02:16That's true.
02:17MLB average 4.4 runs per game, per team.
02:22Okay.
02:23Rangers average 3.62.
02:26That's bad.
02:27That is very bad.
02:28That is the worst in the American League and the second worst in all of baseball.
02:32The league average is almost a run better than you.
02:35Indeed.
02:35Okay.
02:36But now it's about to get worse.
02:38Sorry.
02:39Spoiler alert.
02:39This segment isn't super positive.
02:42Last year, the Texas offense was terrible, right?
02:45Mm-hmm.
02:46They averaged 4.22 runs per game.
02:50So, the offense last year that we thought was god-awful and unacceptable is on pace to score
02:5897 more runs than this offense.
03:01Okay.
03:03Which is the most depressing baseball thing I've heard in a while.
03:08From the 8-1-7, 15 men left on base on Saturday.
03:11Is that unlucky or not being clutch?
03:13Which, it's a couple different things.
03:17Not the talent necessary, but also not the talent necessary from across the board.
03:24Yep.
03:25Because if you have a pocket in your offense that is good, then you can take advantage
03:31of that pocket.
03:32Now, that being said, Major League Baseball pitching can expose that pocket too and take
03:37that down.
03:37But if you have a little area where you can get on base that frequently and you get back
03:42to that one area where you're like, all right, Seeger's back up.
03:45There was a time when we knew, as long as we can get Seeger back up or Simeon, one of
03:49these guys, something good can happen.
03:51You don't have that right now.
03:53And in the last couple years, it's been like that.
03:55You could not string together.
03:57So, I don't think it's unlucky at all.
03:59It's unlucky that you position yourself with a lineup that can't do it.
04:04That's what's unlucky.
04:05And not being clutch, part of it, is, again, not having the talent that's able to do that
04:10right now.
04:11Occasionally, they can.
04:12Right.
04:12They're just a little under .500 at being able to be good enough to do things.
04:17But occasionally, they can score enough runs to win a game.
04:21But right now, whenever you're having those moments, there has to be a completely different
04:25approach to things.
04:27So, I think not taking advantage when you have the opportunity.
04:32And to his credit, Skip Schumacher addressed every variation of this question.
04:39But if you just kind of quick hit, the Rangers are in the bottom third with runners in scoring
04:45position when it comes to batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, and OPS.
04:52In the bottom third in all of those categories.
04:54And quite frankly, some of the categories, they're in the bottom five of the entire league.
04:59And here is one of the issues.
05:01The Rangers, especially early on, had shown significantly better plate discipline early
05:08in the season.
05:09Except when it comes to runners in scoring position.
05:12They had the fourth highest strikeout percentage with runners in scoring position.
05:16Really?
05:16Yeah.
05:17So, for whatever reason, that plate discipline, which for players like Josh Young, has been
05:22way, way better.
05:24And across the board, I still thought it had shown signs of being better.
05:27It disappears in that moment.
05:29And that's why you're not getting a ton of opportunities with runners in scoring position
05:34because of your own shortcomings in on-base percentage, batting average, OPS, stuff like
05:39that.
05:39But then when you do get those opportunities, your strikeout rate, your swing and miss rate
05:45have spiked.
05:46And then your slugging and batting average have remained low.
05:50You know, we were so excited the other night when they came away with that bottom of the ninth
05:54inning, getting runners on and producing the runs that were necessary, right?
05:58But there was a moment when Ezekiel Duran's up at the plate and you're like, all right,
06:03does he try to drive the run in or does he let this thing shuffle itself out?
06:09What Ezekiel Duran did was, because he had a 3-0 count, right?
06:13Patience.
06:14Let that pitch come in.
06:15That was a strike.
06:16All right.
06:163-1, Kevin.
06:17What is the 3-1 count?
06:19Swing away.
06:19Yeah.
06:20It has always been that way.
06:21If you get the pitch, you get the pitch, you drive that sucker as hard as you can.
06:26I believe what he did in that situation was there was a high and end sweeper that landed
06:32just inside the strike zone.
06:33And then the same pitch comes out and over the plate and he drives it and gets a double
06:37out of it.
06:37So the patience at the plate, even whenever you have runners in scoring position, does
06:42pay off for you when you finally get a pitch.
06:44Maybe it's not the pitch, the fastball you're looking for, but it's the pitch that you've
06:48seen and now it's hanging and you're able to take advantage of it.
06:52It feels like there's just a little bit more pressure.
06:55Maybe they're a little more aggressive.
06:57Maybe they're told to be a little more aggressive whenever they have runners in scoring position
07:01rather than, hey, let's let this thing work itself out.
07:03We'll take walks.
07:04We're fine with it.
07:05I think the approach kind of always has to be very similar no matter the situation,
07:10but based on the strikeout numbers going up, it feels like they're just saying we're
07:13going to be more aggressive.
07:14I do wonder also how often the guys that do strike out more are coming up to the plate
07:19in those moments.
07:20Maybe that's the case, but I just have to really drill into those a little more.
07:24At the moment, it doesn't matter.
07:26The runs aren't coming across.
07:27Yeah, and you've started to run into, and I see the text.
07:33We saw the text last week as well.
07:35You really continue to see the struggles of Evan Carter, who is somebody who we had.
07:42His defense is so good in center field, we've got to keep putting him out there, especially
07:47with Wyatt out.
07:49Yes, and then the thing is, what's the best way that he's going to learn how to hit left-handed
07:53pitching?
07:53By going up there and hitting left-handed pitching.
07:56All right.
07:58Nemo found out by practicing hitting left-handed pitching that was aggressive to him, and I
08:02wonder if they should say, hey, we need to implement this.
08:05I mean, anything they can try, because otherwise, he's one for 24 against lefties with 10 strikeouts.
08:13And I know it's a smaller sample size, but just think about it.
08:16If Evan Carter goes up to the plate against a left-handed pitcher, he's 10 times as likely
08:22to strike out as to get a hit.
08:26His OPS is 190 against left-handed pitchers.
08:30So, and that's the tough part of where the Rangers put themselves last year and the year
08:35before, and this year as well, is you don't have time to experiment all of that out.
08:39Like, let's say you were, right now, 15 and 27, and you could see the writing on the wall.
08:45Then you could run him out there every single time against every single left-handed pitcher,
08:50and you're like, we're going to get a whole season of this in, one way or another, and we're
08:54either going to sink or swim or whatever.
08:57But instead, at 22 and 24, which is not a great record, but you still find yourself a
09:03little bit more than a fourth of the way in the season, a game back of first place in
09:08your division.
09:08And if the playoffs started today, the Rangers would be in there.
09:12So I hear people that are like, sell, sell, sell.
09:16Would you do that if you're sitting on a playoff spot?
09:19Regardless of how you think it's going to go, if you're sitting in a playoff spot, I find
09:23it hard to believe they would do that.
09:24You have a manager that is in his first year that wants to prove that he's a manager that
09:31can win.
09:32And I don't think he's going to be, you know, well, let's just dump the team, because
09:36he wants to prove he can win, no matter what.
09:38He's like, I just got these guys.
09:40I want to prove that I can do it with them, too.
09:42You have a GM president, the president of baseball operations, historically, has been,
09:48if you're close, we're going for it.
09:50Right.
09:50We want to give our chance every chance we can to swing for it, even if we fall a little
09:57bit short.
09:58Maybe that one little thing, we've seen many times, Kevin, that one little thing can be
10:03the piece that takes you over the top.
10:05The Cole Hamels deal, the Cliff Lee deal, like all those things where you thought that might
10:10be a season of see you later, and it turned into a season of, no, no, we actually have
10:14an injection that we needed.
10:16What was the, I love Brian Ray said this about Jim Nill and the Stars, when they went and
10:20got Miko Rantanen, however you feel about Miko now.
10:23But at the time, it was a reward to the team for working so hard.
10:28And you tell them, I believe in you guys, we'll go out and get it.
10:32So that's my hope, Kevin, is that during this time period, and they have a depth of pitching,
10:38they have a lot of pitching depth, that is the hope, is that they find a bat that they
10:43say, we're willing to go add that and make this trade-off.
10:47And that bat comes in and helps across the board, whether it's protecting a Seager, or
10:54protecting a Langford, or whatever it is, it comes in and helps add to that.
10:59Because right now, it is a bunch of pieces that you're like, I really need a career year
11:03out of you.
11:04I need you to be something that maybe you haven't been in the last 10 years, or five
11:09years, and I just need that out of you.
11:11And this is where I get concerned that a couple of different fans go, and I totally understand
11:16the thought process from the 9-0-3, then F and bunt.
11:19Well, remember, that was one of the issues that when Jock tried to bunt, it didn't work
11:23out, and the fan base crushed Skip for that.
11:27And then from the 6-8-2, I worry this is not the case.
11:30The hitters are good enough.
11:32Whatever the coaching, I think the coaching approach at the plate is god-awful.
11:37It's a coaching issue, in my opinion.
11:39But the issue is, you expanded out your hitting staff and made changes from last year.
11:44And you also made changes from the year before.
11:47Yeah, this is the third one.
11:47No, actually, this is the third one in two years.
11:49Yeah, so you've been making...
11:50You had Boone last year.
11:51You've been making those changes, and you're still in the same situation.
11:56So I feel like you can only switch so many coaching methods or coaching styles before
12:01you're like, well...
12:03And I think every player that's telling the truth about themselves, and every coach would
12:09probably say the same thing.
12:10You can only coach them so much.
12:12Sure.
12:13When they walk away from the hitter's deck, the batting circle, and they get into the box,
12:19that's on them at this point.
12:20What are they going to do to just be able to scrape by and make something happen or find
12:25that right pitch?
12:26Like you said, offense is down.
12:28This offense, being where it is right now, is unacceptable for this team, especially
12:33when you have pitching doing the best it can and giving you opportunities and chances
12:38to win.
12:39Kevin, a four home run solo shots to the Astros isn't enough of an excuse to say you shouldn't
12:47have been able to score more runs in that game.
12:48And maybe this is a question for another day.
12:50If your pitcher goes out there and does what he does most nights, he has a night like that,
12:55then you need to get out there and make sure that you're covering his ass.
12:58So this might be a conversation for another day.
13:01What is the appeal to come here if you're a hitting coach?
13:05Because think about what the pitching coach did.
13:07They gave you, your pitching coach last year, Maddox, gave you the greatest performance
13:13probably in the history of Texas Rangers pitching.
13:16And then we decided to squabble with him over a little bit of money that doesn't actually
13:21count against any sort of cap and let him go away.
13:25So if you're a hitting coach who comes here and does amazing things, Rangers are going
13:29to be like, well, as long as you don't want to get paid more, keep doing your thing, man.
13:34Appreciate you, man.
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