The Ranger Prodigal Son Returns to Arlington

A little over a week ago the Rangers Prodigal son Jurickson Profar returned to Arlington with the San Diego Padres and displayed to his former team why he has become one of the most prominent offensive players throughout the first half of the season. He was able to get four hits through the three-game series along with a homer that put the Padres ahead of the Rangers in the rubber match game of the series.

While it is refreshing to see Profar become the player that Rangers fans and executives believed he could become after his career has had several setbacks due to a multitude of injuries he had to deal with. Profar's newfound success remains somewhat bittersweet because he has become such a successful player for a team other than the Rangers. 

Profar was signed by the Rangers organization in 2009 and he was quickly regarded as one of the best upcoming prospects in the league and was ranked the 12th-best rookie in baseball. He quickly rose through the Rangers minor league system finishing his final season in the minors with an impressive .286/.390/.493 line.

Due to Profar's success throughout the minors, the Rangers front office in return put a lot of faith in him going as far as trading All-Star second baseman and a pillar of the Rangers team Ian Kinsler to the Detroit Tigers to make room for Profar's emergence in the league. 

Once Profar did eventually make it onto the Rangers roster in 2014 he was far from the player the Rangers expected as he was constantly dealing with a multitude of injuries which caused him to miss a significant amount of time in his first full season with the Rangers.

Unfortunately, Profar was never able to move past the injury bug while with the Rangers. He was sidelined for two whole seasons due to a recurring shoulder injury that couldn't seem to properly heal from.

Although Profar showed flashes of being a great player while with the Rangers, he was never able to perform at a consistent enough level to remain an everyday player causing the Rangers to ship him off to the Oakland A’s during the winter of 2018. 

Since then Profar has become somewhat of a journeyman bouncing around several teams, showing flashes of success but having difficulty becoming an everyday player for any of the teams he was on. He returned to San Diego this spring and had an unexpected career resurgence with the Padres.

Through 94 games this season Profar is currently slashing an astounding .311/.402/.489 line along with 14 homers. Due to Profar's success with the Padres so far this season, he is about to have a full circle moment when he returns to Arlington next week to participate in his first-ever All-Star game.

Before returning to Arlington, Profar was recently asked about his time with the Rangers and he acknowledged his somewhat disappointing tenure with the team saying, “ I never really got a chance to play here. I got injured. I missed two years of baseball. I came back and I didn't play much.” 

Profar also went on to acknowledge that Rangers fans were not able to see much out of him stating, “I didn’t have a chance to show all the fans here that were always rooting for me.”

Overall it is tough to not wonder what Profar could have been for the Rangers if he was able to stay healthy. At the end of the day, Profar falls onto an ever-growing list of Ranger prospects who were not able to pan out with the organization and force fans to wonder what they could have been if things went differently for them while in Arlington.

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