Texas Rangers first half report card
Catchers
The Texas Rangers have a really good catching crew on the surface. But starting catcher Jonathan Lucroy has underachieved significantly this season while Robinson Chirinos has shown inconsistent power.
Lucroy’s AVG, OBP and SLG are way down from his career numbers and even lower than last season’s totals. He did help himself out with a solid month of May with a first half slash line of .295/.344/.455.
As a sub, Chirinos has shown fantastic power, but inconsistent contact. He started out with a great April, batting .320 and slugging an incredible .840. But his numbers have come way back down to earth and below in the recent months, dropping his first half slash to .231/.325/.593.
It’s the home runs that have proven huge for Chirinos. In just 35 games he has 12, which would give him a pace of about 55 over a 162 game season. But the Texas coaching staff would likely trade in a few of those homers in exchange for a few more base hits.
Defensively they’ve played well, committing just one error. They’ve thrown out only 28% of the baserunners that have attempted stolen bases against them though. They could use some improvement there, although some of that lies in the hands of the pitching staff as well.
Overall, Lucroy and Chirinos have a lot of room to improve. Lucroy’s been more consistent while Chirinos has had more big moments. If Lucroy could pick up the power in the second half and Chirinos would get on base a little more often, they could be solid.