Texas Rangers: 3 Predictions for the upcoming 2023 season
By Jack Lindsay
With 2023 officially here it is time to look forward to the New Year. After an excitable 2021 offseason for the Texas Rangers where they signed both Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, they fell short of expectations finishing 68-94 and 38 games out of first place. But as they say, “New year, new me,” or I guess in this case “New year, new Rangers.”
1. The Texas Rangers will finish 85-77
I believe a 17-point difference in wins is constituted after the offseason the Texas Rangers have had. This does not guarantee a spot in the playoffs for the Rangers mind you, there are plenty of suitors for that sixth seed in 2023.
This includes their division rival the Seattle Mariners who are looking to build upon their first playoff appearance since 2001. They lacked pitching significantly, minus the surprise breakout of Martin Perez, this season they addressed that issue in a major way with the signings of Jacob DeGrom and Nathan Eovaldi.
The sticks are already solidified one through six and now the Texas Rangers have a solid group of every-fifth-day starters. It will come down to whether this rotation can stay healthy. DeGrom has 156.1 IP over the last two seasons and an ace like him can change the outlook of the season should he go down. In the last two seasons DeGrom had 200+ IPs, he won the Cy Young but that was 2018-19. Let’s hope he can turn back the clock.
2. Josh Jung introduces himself to the MLB with 20+ HRs and .750+ OPS
This prediction and the last coincide quite a bit as I don’t see an above .500 season without contributions coming from Josh Jung. While yes, he had a slow start in the MLB, his process through the ranks was accelerated.
Jung spent 58 games at AAA over the course of two seasons and was then sent to the majors in early-August of last year.
According to FanGraphs, Texas Rangers GM Chris Young was asked about Jung and his performance and he had this to say:
"“Josh got his first taste of the big leagues this year and experienced some highs, and also saw some of the challenges of facing big-league pitching on a daily basis. We’re super excited about his future. We think he’s going to be a very bright spot with us for a long time. We’re thrilled that he’s now our starting third baseman.”"
https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1568403704390320129?s=20&t=Mf6MQIg8vcQsIbN9ILDwmA
Jung got two months to get acclimated to the MLB and will now have a full season to put all of his tools together and contribute and I think he is going to make the adjustment. He has the track record with a .988 OPS in AAA, a .316 average, along with 15 HRs.
3. Corey Seager massively benefits from new shift rules and hits .280
We all know how special of a player Corey Seager is. Just looking at his career numbers it is clear what Seager is capable of, and it is exactly why the Texas Rangers sent $325M his way in 2021. That is not to say that he did not provide for the Rangers in ways they paid for.
A career-high in HRs (33) was a pleasant surprise. But with that also came some on-base struggles. Seager also set career lows in both batting average and OBP in 2022. While there are many factors which contributed to this, I would like to hone in on one. I mean, it is unlikely that a career .287 hitter would just drop off to .245 and stay there.
A key contributor for this drop-off was Corey Seager’s struggle against the shift. Of Seager’s 663 PA, 428 of them came against a shifted defense. Against the shift he hit .226, the 23rd worst average against the shift among qualified hitters. The new rule changes should allow Seager to unlock what he was missing last year and get that on-base ability back once again.
Want your voice heard? Join the Sports Dallas Fort-Worth team!
The New Year is officially underway and that means Spring Training begins in 53 days at the time of this writing. The pieces are here to make it happen. And if you’re not a believer all I have to say is remember you read this and check again at the end of the season. Happy New Years everyone.