In a weekly staple, we'll discuss who's in a groove and who's in a rut for the Texas Rangers.
Who's On?
Robinson Chirinos — Not only is Chirinos one of baseball's best at throwing out would-be base-stealers, he's recently taking to that hitting thing, and he's basically made Rangers fans forget about the injured Geovany Soto, who could be back next month but at what capacity? Over the last week (three starts), Chirinos is batting .455 with a double, two homers and five RBIs.
Elvis Andrus — Andrus is on one of his tears at the plate. There's still not much beyond singles, but he's getting hits, batting .423 over the last six games with two doubles.
Nick Tepesch — Entering today's start, Tepesch is hot. He tossed 6 1/3 scoreless innings while allowing just two hits in his last start against Seattle — a no-decision in which the Rangers won as he outdueled King Felix.
Who's Off?
Robbie Ross — Ross is now in Triple-A after an awful week which saw him give up five earned runs on five hits in his last two outings, spanning 1 1/3 innings. In that time, opponents hit .625 against him. Good gosh.
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Shin-Soo Choo — Will this slump ever end? Choo had his four RBI game last week against Miami, but other than that, it's been awful for the Rangers' big off-season signee. He's batting .182 over the last six games with one RBI out of the 3-hole outside of that four-RBI game.
Alex Rios — Rios has cooled in a big way. He's now hitting .167 over his last six games with more strikeouts (five) in that span than total bases (four). That's J.P. Arencibia stuff right there.
