Original Publish Date/Outlet: July 22, 2025 | Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Article Link: https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/mlb/texas-rangers/article311114810.html
In 2023, one of the most feared lineups in Major League Baseball belonged to the Texas Rangers.
Led by seasoned veterans Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, and emerging stars like Adolis García and rookie Josh Jung, the lineup ranked among the top three in baseball for batting average, home runs and RBIs and led the franchise to its first World Series championship.
A team with 10 players producing double-digit home runs, anchored by a middle infield locked into long-term deals and a promising slate of young talent should’ve signal an organization guaranteed to contend for a division title over the next few years.
Two years later, however, the lineup is a shell of the 2023 version. Through 101 games in 2025, the Texas Rangers rank 28th in the League in batting average, 18th in home runs and 24th in runs driven in.
A decrease in production
Some of the core pieces to the Rangers’ offensive success in 2023 have seen a decrease in production in 2025.
Semien played in all 162 games for the Rangers in 2023, hitting .276 with 29 home runs while driving in 100. Through 100 games in 2025, Semien is hitting .231 with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs.
Adolis García, who led the team with 39 home runs in 2023, is hitting .232 with 13 home runs in 96 games. The Rangers have shifted García around in the lineup, even removing him from the lineup at times for mental breaks and to work on his mechanics.
Even the 2023 World Series MVP has had his ups and downs at the plate. Despite multiple stints on the IL due to a hamstring strain, Seager hit .286 through May before hitting .188 in June. Three weeks into July, Seager is hitting .350 with a 22-game on-base streak.
A promising second half The Rangers have improved offensively as a team each month. The team hit .210 in May, then .234 in June and are hitting .251 for the month of July.
The increase in offense over the past few weeks has created momentum. The Rangers took two of three on the road from the Houston Astros, who led the AL West, heading into the All-Star Break. The Rangers didn’t miss a beat, taking a series from the AL Central division leaders, the Detroit Tigers, who currently have the best record in baseball.
Rangers general manager Chris Young said the recent success of his team, coupled with the return of players who have been sidelined so far this season, put the Rangers in prime position for a playoff push in the second half.
“There’s a lot of indicators that we’ve played really good baseball over the past four or five weeks,” Young said. “And we can continue that as we get healthy here. We’re going to get Joc back soon. JJ[Josh Jung] is back. Our hope is we get Burger back sometime relatively soon, Sam Haggerty. We get these guys healthy and playing together, they can feed off each other, and we can go on a run.”
Third baseman Josh Jung, a bright young spot during his rookie season with the Rangers in 2023, hit .266 with 23 home runs. In 2025, however, Jung hit .237 in 75 games before being sent to Triple-A Round Rock on July 1.
Young says he saw Jung’s improvement in his overall approach at the plate while at Round Rock.
The prevalence of left-handed pitching the Rangers will face this week against the Athletics and the Braves, Young said, could help improve Jung’s confidence when they recalled him on Monday.
“You can see the struggles when he was going through it here on his face,” Young said. “And watching his at bats there, you saw a confident player, somebody who believes he could get a hit.”
Possible returners to the lineup
In addition to Jung, Joc Pederson and Jake Burger could return to the lineup sometime this season.
Pederson, who is rehabbing a right hand fracture he sustained after being hit by a pitch in May, hit .131 in 46 games with two home runs for the Rangers in 2025.
Despite the numbers this year, Pederson’s postseason resume alone provides a lot of promise for the Rangers lineup should they play in October.
Jake Burger, currently on the IL for the second time this season with a quad injury, has hit .228 so far for the Rangers this season with 11 home runs. His return could bring back power from the right side of the plate.
Entering Tuesday’s game against the A’s, the Rangers are currently 2.5 games out from a spot in the Wild Card behind the Tampa Bay Rays. The steady increase in production from the lineup, paired with the steadiness of the pitching staff with the best ERA in the MLB could push the Texas Rangers further into the postseason conversation.