Should the Rangers Shake Up Their Lineup?

The Rangers have seen great success this year, offensively speaking, even if their run production is not what is what last year. That is, of course, because their biggest run producer from last year, Josh Hamilton, has been beset by injuries for most of the season.

It would also be fair to say that the offense has not been hitting on all cylinders, with David Murphy struggling for most of the first month and a half and Chris Davis setting universal records in strikeouts. 

Undaunted, their power is still there. They are tied with the major league lead in home runs with 87, led by Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler. Their OPS is .805 and they have 283 RBI each good for fifth. And their batting average is .268, which is 10th.

Compare that with their stats from last year and the differences make themselves readily apparent: .283 BA (1), 194 HR (6), 867 RBI (1), .816 OPS (1). In 2008, the Rangers led the world in hitting with a batting order resembling this year's. So, to make up for the absence of Hamilton and the lack of consistent production of Murphy and Davis, perhaps a shakeup is in order.

It is noteworthy that their leadoff hitter, 2B Ian Kinsler is hitting for much more power this year than he did last year with 15 homers and 44 RBI through the first week of June; he is in the top 5 for both of these statistics. Since Kinsler is the spark that drives the Rangers’ lineup, and because he is such a prolific run producer, would it not be prudent to put him lower in the lineup, say third, to hit behind Michael Young and take advantage of Young's ability to get on base?

It is understandable that only in the first inning would this make any noticeable difference as Kinsler always seems to come up with runners on base, but with shortstop Elvis Andrus demonstrating that he can hit major league pitching, and the venerable Young putting up his typical numbers, dropping Kinsler to one of the middle of the order power slots might take even more advantage of his power and run producing ability.

Andrus is a legitimate threat to get on base with the bunt and he has shown the ability to work a count. He is batting .538 with a full count. He is the Rangers’ only true speed threat, but Kinsler has a knack for stealing bases with the best of them.

Given that Hamilton is out for at least two weeks (although the reports seem to say it will be much longer than that) the batting order needs to be set up for run production and I do not think that in its current state, the Rangers are setup to maximize that production.

Current                          Proposed

2B Kinsler                      SS Andrus

3B Young                       3B Young

DH Jones                       2B Kinsler

RF Cruz                         DH Jones           

CF Byrd                         RF Cruz

LF Murphy                      CF Byrd

1B Davis                        LF Murphy

C   Saltalamacchia           1B Davis

SS Andrus                      C   Saltalamacchia