Texas Rangers: 2020 season finally comes to a close

The Texas Rangers season rather mercifully came to a close on Sunday, as the team wrapped up a disappointing 22-38 season.

The Texas Rangers wrapped up a bad season, but that doesn’t mean it was a “lost” year, as a lot of young players got to come onto the scene, and get their chances to prove that they belong.

The young players that impressed me the most this season were Leody Taveras, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Nick Solak, Anderson Tejeda, and Sam Huff.

I think Taveras, Kiner-Falefa, and Solak all proved during this shortened season that they are going to be quality MLB players, and will more than likely have spots on the Opening Day roster next season, and I would expect all three to be starters.

The player that has surprised me the most during his stint in the majors was Sam Huff, who was a very pleasant surprise to see get called up, with his highest level of competition being at High-A for the Texas Rangers.

In just ten games for the team, he hit an impressive .355 with a .394 OBP and 1.136 OPS and three home runs. While he may not even make the team to start next season, as the club may opt to send him to the minors to get some more seasoning when things are hopefully back to normal, he is for sure going to be an intriguing player to keep an eye on for when he does return to the majors.

With the 22-38 record, the Texas Rangers will officially have the second overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, and will likely take one of the two Vanderbilt pitchers that are expected to go pro next season.

I would expect that Kumar Rocker will go first overall, which would leave Jack Leiter for the Rangers, unless they decide to go another direction, or an even better option becomes available with a terrific season to raise his stock, or something of that nature.

I have been constantly talking about the high draft pick that the Texas Rangers will get as a result of this disappointing season, and their tank job paid off with them getting the second pick in the draft, and something for fans to at least be a little bit excited for… even though the MLB draft is the toughest to do out of pretty much any sport.

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Another good thing from the season is that the team won their last three games, and more importantly, in my opinion, gave the Houston Astros a losing record on the year, at 29-31. The team only finished seven games behind the Astros this season, which means they were only seven games out of a playoff spot, so even though things may seem all gloom and doom, the team actually was not as bad as everyone thought. Maybe with a few players to plug some holes in the pitching staff, the team could close that gap, and potentially be competing for a playoff spot in 2021, although it does not seem too likely, given what the club has said about how they plan to cut more salary for the season.

This off-season is going to be very interesting to watch for the team, as they will have around $40 million off the books with Shin-Soo Choo, and the potential declining of Corey Kluber‘s option.

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Aside from those two players, the Texas Rangers do not have any free agents whose production is going to be missed when they are let go, as aside from Choo and Kluber, the only things to monitor from the team, internally, will be if they decide to give out any extensions, or potentially try to trade players like Lance Lynn or Joey Gallo.

Published on 09/28/2020 at 12:01 PM
Last updated at 09/28/2020 at 08:09 AM

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