Rangers Notebook: Shin-Soo Choo's Struggles Continue

By Jared Sandler | @SandlerJ

105.3 THE FAN -- Watching Shin-Soo Choo has been tough this year. It's one thing to see a fringe Major League player struggle, but it's a totally different thing to watch someone who was once among the game's best falter like one of the game's worst.

There's no two ways about it. Shin-Soo Choo was one of the game's worst in April. Not a threat on the bases (in part, because he was barely there) and not a huge defensive plus, Choo's bread-and-butter at this stage of his career is his bat and his ability to reach base. Unfortunately, the outfielder had the worst batting average in the Majors among qualifying hitters through April (.096) and among the worst at reaching base (.254).

But that doesn't mean it has to remain that way -- and I am very confident that it won't. Mark me down: Shin-Soo Choo will finish the year with an on-base percentage of at least .350, above league average. When all is said and done, we'll look back at April as an incredibly unicorn of a month.

Players who are elite at something, don't just all of a sudden lose it. Choo was among baseball's best at getting on base. He might not reach base at a near-league best .423 rate like 2013 -- I never said he'd equal that level of success -- but it doesn't just totally fall of a cliff. Even in his injury-plagued 2014, Choo reached 34% of the time.

But it can't all be so positive, right? Obviously not.

I don't know that he'll necessarily ever produce equal to the value of his gaudy contract. He's already losing steam on the bases -- he once stole 20+ bases in four out of five years -- and, while his arm remains strong, he looks more and more out of sorts in the outfield.

Why am I so confident? No one outworks Choo. He was the first to arrive at the Surprise complex in Spring Training...at 4:45 am. His work ethic is admired within the clubhouse. This isn't some guy who putzes around and wastes talent through laziness.

Bottom line: The Rangers need Shin-Soo Choo to figure it out at the plate if they have any hope of success this year and, maybe more importantly, subsequent seasons.

Playing Pepper (Random Rangers thoughts)

* It's crazy to think that, through the first month of the season, the Rangers' struggles are in spite of its starting pitching, which has given them a chance to win on most nights.

* Whether or not the numbers are demonstrating it, Adrian Beltre is starting to hit the ball harder, which could be a good sign...or maybe not, I don't know.

* The Rangers' defense is giving away too many runs, either by plays unmade or a lack of plays made that are above routine. No one expects every tough play to be made, but not enough are being made, at least, to balance out the routine plays that aren't.

* Ross Detwiler's stat line was much, much, much improved on Tuesday versus the Mariners. BUT, I still want to see Detwiler, a ground ball pitcher, get more ground balls. More outs were recorded in the air than normal for a pitcher like Detwiler, and the Mariners hit plenty of line drives, too. Progress? Of course. But still much more to come...

* Dave Magadan's tenure with the Rangers is a hot-button issue. For whatever it is worth, rumors swirled that had he been let go after last season, he would have been scooped up immediately by another team, which shows that he remains a highly respected hitting coach.

* Rougned Odor is playing himself into a demotion. Not worth letting him drown in MLB pitching when he could otherwise be getting better at AAA.

Quotes of the Week

"I just want all the fans to know, I'm back here, I'm back home. I'm going to give you everything I've got just I like I did when I was here and hopefully you can continue to get behind this team."
-- Josh Hamilton

Stat of the Week

The Rangers' bullpen has inherited a Major League-high 58 runners.

Of those, a Major League-high 20 have scored. It's not the percentage that's bad -- the Rangers have allowed 34.5% of inherited runners to score, 16th in the league -- it's what the quantitative number tells me. A team that leads the league in inherited runners is a team whose bullpen hasn't gotten the job done. They haven't been able to finish innings or execute their matchups.

Stock Up/Stock Down

Here's a weekly look at performances of Rangers players

UP: Elvis' Offense

The Rangers' short stop saw his eight-game hitting come to an end Sunday, but he did walk a career-high tying three times. Over his last nine games, Andrus is hitting .294 having reached base 40% of the time thanks to six walks. Prior to these nine games, he'd walked just once all year.

DOWN: Elvis' Defense

The short stop is the quarterback of a defense, and this unit is under-performing, sadly due in large part to the mysterious defensive struggles of Andrus. Capable of making great plays, Andrus falters with the ordinary far too often, having committed seven errors this year -- four this past week -- third most among short stops.

Elsewhere In Baseball...

Baltimore President, John Angelos, son of owner, Peter, commented on the riots taking place in his city.

Good Reads

* Here are a collection of Josh Hamilton stories that emanated from his press conference Monday from Globe Life Park:
-- Bob Nightengale, USA Today
-- Anthony Andro, FSSW
-- Pedro Moura, OC Register

* T.R. Sullivan (MLB.com) with the Rangers' "All-Come-Home Team"

Good Listens

I arrived to the ballpark on my birthday, Friday, May 1, with the simple request of seeing a Rangers HR.

With the team's struggles, I didn't want to be greedy, but I grew up in love with The Natural theme song that plays after Rangers' blasts. Thankfully, I got one from Kyle Blanks in the second inning -- and got a cool call from the Hall of Famer, Eric Nadel.

(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Song

"The General Specific" by Band of Horses

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