Fantasy Baseball Sleepers and Busts: Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers have come out swinging these past two off-seasons. Last year they added infielders Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, as well as Jon Gray. In the last few months they have added Jake Odorizzi via trade, brought back Martín PérezAndrew Heaney and signed Jacob deGrom for five years.

Jon Gray had a good season in his first season outside of Coors with the Texas Rangers. He had an oblique injury that kept him out of action until mid-September. Gray is a sleeper pick for 2022. He has a better team and a more talented team surrounding him. His fastball velocity and slider are getting better. The team is better as well. This is the season that lines up for Gray.

Leody Taveras has played 181 games in the majors and has stolen 29 bases. He plays for the Texas Rangers, who led all MLB with 128 steals in 2022. Tavers came up to the bigs in June and stole 11 bases after stealing seven in his previous level. The new rules for this upcoming season will have a significant effect on stolen bases, as the paths between the bases are slightly smaller and there is a 20-second pitch clock.

Adolis García was a bust last year but he's having a good season this year. He's getting drafted highly because he hits home runs, steals bases and gets plenty of RBI and runs scored. However, he has K rates close to 30%, OBPs not higher than .300 and a 20% HR/FB rate. I see him closer to .220 this season with 25 homers and 15 steals. He'd be better off with Daulton Varsho's season.

Marcus Semien has had more than 700 plate appearances each season since 2018. Semian started the season struggling, but he finished with excellent numbers. He stole 25 bases in 2022, which is a big jump from his previous best of 15 in 2021. His age and playing time may make him a bit more of a risk. He is projected to hit 25 home runs with 15 steals and hit .250. The current projections are not very accurate. Texas Rangers are a team that is good at stealing the bases. They are also good on the field. Their players are more productive than Daulton Varsho and Gleyber Torres.

Martín Pérez had an excellent 2022 with 196.1 innings and a 2.89 ERA. He has only pitched more than 130 innings four times in the 11 seasons he has pitched. Now that the Rangers have filled out their rotation with respectable pitchers and young prospects, the need for Perez to be pushed as deep should be lessened.

Fantasy Baseball Sleepers and Busts: Texas Rangers.