Profar is back, everybody. 470 comments


 

Jurickson Profar's seven-game job interview started last night.

Jurickson Profar’s seven-game job interview started last night.

 

The Rangers got ten hits last night. Yet scored only one run.

That’s because the Rangers got zero hits with runners in scoring position. They were 0-for-7 in that regard.

It was a frustrating loss, 9-1 to the Pirates. They had runners on in every inning except the seventh. Yet they couldn’t kick in the door.

At least they had opportunities. Unfortunately, they have two black holes in the lineup that are allowing those opportunities to evaporate.

But really, that was just one frustrating game in a long season that will be filled with games like that.

Bigger than the game, and overshadowed in the talk of Yu Darvish coming back today, was the equally significant comeback story of Jurickson Profar.

Remember Profar?

He is back.

Where was the fanfare? Where was the press? Where were people jamming Stub Hub for tickets, as they are for Darvish’s return tonight?

Profar was The Man a few years ago. He was the Mazara. He was the number-one-rated prospect in all of baseball. He was the future of the Rangers. He was the guy so valuable, any and all suitors for him were promptly turned away.

He hasn’t played in a major league game since September of 2013 until last night.

Yet there he was. Back in a Rangers uniform. Seemingly without a future with the Rangers. Seemingly auditioning for a job with some other team. No longer The Man.

But he was finally healthy. And the bat was there. Even though he went just 1-for-4, he came within inches of a mammoth home run. The ball jumped off his bat. It got out in such a hurry, it seemed surreal.

Profar is back. The past future of the Rangers.

I am looking forward to watching his audition over the next six games. I hope those games will be nothing like the one last night.

 

*****
TONIGHT’S GAME:

 

Screen Shot 2016-05-27 at 11.54.35 PMJuan Nicasio (4-3, 4.46) vs Yu Darvish (0-0, —)
Game time: 6:15

How the Pirates hit against Darvish.
How the Rangers hit against Nicasio.