After losing three of four to Houston, Texas has reached the quarter mark of the season at 18-22. That’s good for third place in the A.L. West. After finishing last the past two seasons, it’s an improvement.

But, as of now, they have gone from a horrible team to a not very good team. This offensive resurgence they were supposed to enjoy has yet to happen. On the contrary, the Rangers have actually gotten worse at the plate.

Last year the Rangers finished twenty-ninth in hitting, dead last in on-base percentage, and dead last in OPS. So, of course, it seems they couldn’t possibly get any worse.

But after adding Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Mitch Garver, and Kole Calhoun, the Rangers offense has not improved. They may not be last in the league but that’s only because other teams have regressed even more.

While the Rangers have moved up to twenty-sixth in batting average, at .222, last year, the year they lost 102 games, they batted .232. Their on-base percentage this season is lower than last year. And their OPS is considerably lower.

So, to recap, the Rangers aren’t the worst offensive team in 2022 as they were in 2021 simply because there are a few other teams worse. But make no mistake, this is a bad team offensively.

Take a look at the OPS chart. It tells you where hitters rank based on their OPS.

Only two hitters are above average. Surprisingly, it’s the catcher and the backup catcher. Because of that, they Rangers can’t afford to put them both in the game at the same time.

A lot of guys need to start stepping up. Otherwise this team is not going to take the steps forward it needs to take.

*****