The Rangers desperately needed to break out of a team-wide slump on Tuesday night against the Yankees and even up the series with a rubber game coming Wednesday night.
A lot of players contributed to the Rangers' 10-run outburst, but Nomar Mazara was definitely one of the bigger factors, and he did it all on his 21st birthday so he could finally celebrate appropriately, at least legally.
Mazara had hits in his first two-bats and scored two runs, continuing to produce in the No. 2 spot in the order since his callup just a handful of games into the year when Shin-Soo Choo went down with a calf strain.
Mazara is now hitting .365 as the youngest player in baseball, and his teammates have all taken notice.
“He’s doesn’t act like a 20-year-old, 21 today to be exact,” Adrian Beltre told the Star-Telegram. “It’s weird to see a 20-year-old guy, so young, acting the way he does. It’s not only the talent he has, but the makeup and the focus that he has is something I haven’t seen in a long time.”
Beltre would know. When he came to the bigs in 1998, it was as a 19-year-old and he was the youngest player in the majors.
Not sure to what level Mazara's success will continue, but it's hard to envision a fall off the cliff like we saw from the slugging Joey Gallo last year. If you're saying Mazara is the next Adrian Beltre, well, I think the Rangers can live with that.
