Ron Washington has used a laissez-faire approach to handling his lineup for as long as he’s been in Texas, and this isn’t about to change. Take the case of Ian Kinsler, for instance: Kinsler is currently in a pretty miserable slump, but Washington isn’t about to do anything drastic to push the All-Star second baseman out of it--like, maybe, moving him out of the leadoff spot.
“This is the first time that Kinsler has scuffled all year,” Washington said this week, per the Dallas Morning News. “He’s my leadoff guy, and I trust him. He’ll figure it out. We’ll let him work it out. I’ve got nowhere else to go.”
Kinsler will enter the second game of this week’s series with Baltimore just 5 for his last 47, and carrying an average that’s dipped all the way down to .265. But Washington’s quietly confident, hands-off approach has worked at least once this season, when he left Michael Young alone to play through one of the worst slumps of his career.
That move appears to be paying off now. Young is hitting .320 over the past week, with five RBIs and a home run.