{"id":34291,"date":"2025-05-17T17:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T17:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/34291\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T17:00:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T17:00:20","slug":"5-stats-that-stand-out-from-the-first-week-of-the-texas-rangers-2025-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/34291\/","title":{"rendered":"5 stats that stand out from the first week of the Texas Rangers\u2019 2025 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re one week into Major League Baseball\u2019s new season<\/a>, and you know what that means: It\u2019s time to overreact to some small sample sizes.<\/p>\n

Will Kevin Pillar hit .500 the whole season? Will Wyatt Langford pound 80 homers? Will Jacob deGrom uphold his 0.00 ERA for 30 starts? Who knows \u2014 maybe he\u2019ll simply refuse to allow a run in 2025.<\/p>\n

In all likelihood, though, these numbers from the first seven games of the Texas Rangers<\/a> season will be forgotten by the first of May. But it\u2019s still fun to project, pick up on early trends and predict what the rest of the season will be like based on these starting points.<\/p>\n

Here are five stats that pop out in the early going of the Rangers\u2019 2025 season, some a possible sign of good things to come and some indicating red-flag issues that could snowball if not fixed with haste.<\/p>\n

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Be the smartest Rangers fan. Get the latest news.<\/p>\n

1. 0.90<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the combined ERA of Rangers starting pitchers Nathan Eovaldi, Jack Leiter and Jacob deGrom through their first five games pitched.<\/p>\n

Quite the statement from 3\/5 of the Rangers\u2019 rotation.<\/p>\n

The highlight, of course, was Eovaldi\u2019s 99-pitch shutout gem against the Reds on Tuesday<\/a>. Then, with a little help from Eovaldi<\/a>, Leiter followed that up with his second straight strong start to begin the season. Leiter is 2-0 in his first two starts, the first two wins of his major league career. He\u2019s struck out 10 in 10 innings.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s deGrom, who made just his fourth start since April of 2023 and pitched five shutout innings<\/a> against the Red Sox. He\u2019s the scheduled starter for Saturday\u2019s game against the Rays.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a long way to go for the Rangers\u2019 starting rotation, especially considering a big chunk of it is still coming off major surgery. But anything like this on an extended basis will most definitely play.<\/p>\n

Related:How veteran Nathan Eovaldi paved the way for Jack Leiter\u2019s gem in another Rangers shutout<\/a>2. Adolis Garcia\u2019s barrel %<\/p>\n

If the Rangers are going to get back to where they were in 2023, they\u2019re going to need the Adolis Garcia they had in 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This first week has been a good starting point.<\/p>\n

Garcia is off to a roaring start<\/a> with five extra base hits in his first seven games \u2014 two home runs and three doubles. He had two doubles and a homer in Game No. 3 for Texas, driving in three out of the Rangers\u2019 four runs in a 4-3 win for their second victory of the year. Garcia has a .956 OPS thus far.<\/p>\n

Beyond the basic numbers, the advanced stats paint a clearer picture of Garcia\u2019s early success. As of Thursday he ranks eighth in baseball in barrel percentage, the number of times a batter hits the ball with a perfect combo of exit velocity and launch angle divided by the number of plate appearances a player had. Garcia\u2019s 20% puts him up there with names like Aaron Judge, Pete Alonso and Elly De La Cruz in the early going.<\/p>\n

Per MLB\u2019s Baseball Savant, Garcia also ranks in the 90th percentile or higher in average exit velocity, hard-hit percentage, and expected slugging percentage.<\/p>\n

It looks like 2023 ALCS Adolis Garcia<\/a> is still in there somewhere.<\/p>\n

Related:Is Adolis Garc\u00eda back? Outfielder\u2019s big night fuels hopes Rangers can recapture 2023 form<\/a>\"TexasTexas Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien reacts next to Boston Red Sox catcher Connor Wong after striking out to end the seventh inning of an opening day baseball game at Globe Life Field on Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Smiley N. Pool \/ Staff Photographer)3. -0.6<\/p>\n

The combined WAR of Corey Seager and Marcus Semien through the season\u2019s first week.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s gonna need a fix.<\/p>\n

The duo\u2019s struggles are the primary reason for the slow offensive start for the team as a whole. The Rangers are currently tied for second-to-last in the AL in runs scored, though they\u2019ve managed a 5-2 record early on thanks to some stellar pitching.<\/p>\n

For what it\u2019s worth, chances are you\u2019ll look back on this first week as a blip. Semien, for one, is a career-long slow starter. He\u2019s got a career OPS of .711 in March\/April and a career OPS of .762 in May. As the team\u2019s seemingly perennial leadoff hitter, though, it\u2019d be nice if he\u2019s able to turn it around sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

Seager, on the other hand, is playing on a tender calf muscle<\/a>. He\u2019s missed two of the team\u2019s first seven games, but you have to imagine the five-time All-Star will get his feet under him soon.<\/p>\n

And as those two go, the Rangers\u2019 offense goes. So they hope, at least.<\/p>\n

Related:Texas Rangers not playing chicken with Corey Seager\u2019s tender calf to start season<\/a>4. 12 for 13<\/p>\n

Twelve successfully stolen bases by Rangers opponents, out of a possible 13. Woof.<\/p>\n

And the one caught stealing wasn\u2019t a true throwdown but rather a nice pickoff move by Chris Martin.<\/p>\n

This comes a season after the Rangers ranked dead last in the majors in caught stealing percentage. Clearly it\u2019s an issue.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t blame the catchers<\/a>, whatever you do. Manager Bruce Bochy has already been asked about this lacking facet of the Rangers\u2019 game this season, and his only plea was to at least give catchers Jonah Heim and Kyle Higashioka a chance. The biggest key to theft prevention falls on the pitchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re on it,\u201d Bochy said succinctly on Tuesday. \u201cWe\u2019ve talked about it. We\u2019ve got to do a better job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related:Don\u2019t blame the catchers: Here\u2019s how Rangers plan to fix early troubles vs. stolen bases<\/a>5. 96.7<\/p>\n

Jonah Heim\u2019s average exit velocity in 2025, up from 88.5 in 2024.<\/p>\n

Heim fell off a cliff offensively last season<\/a>, to the extent that he\u2019s been relegated to split duties at catcher with Higashioka in 2025.<\/p>\n

But through Heim\u2019s first three games, he\u2019s hitting the ball harder than he did last season. In fact, his advanced numbers are up nearly across the board: barrel %, wOBA, launch angle, all up from last year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the two home runs he hit in his 2025 debut, either. Heim has also smacked a pair of singles at 105.5 and 104.9 mph, respectively.<\/p>\n

For good measure, Statcast says he\u2019s been framing pitches better in 2025 as well.<\/p>\n

A healthy, consistent Heim improving on both sides of the plate this season<\/a> would do wonders for the back of the Rangers\u2019 batting order, and for their chances at recreating their success from 2023.<\/p>\n

Related:Texas Rangers\u2019 Jonah Heim showed up in a big way. Can he replicate his 2023 self?<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter: @coylio33<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Retired<\/a>Letters to the Editor \u2014 Three Cheers for Gregg Popovich, Evan Grant, citizens academies <\/a><\/p>\n

Readers praise NBA retired head coach Gregg Popovich; appreciate a recent Evan Grant column; and recommend city citizens academies.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>The Rangers turned to their hot hand in the bullpen vs. Houston and got burnt for it <\/a><\/p>\n

In Texas\u2019 6-3 loss to the Astros Friday, they may have exhausted their continual reliance on the bullpen.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>With a diversified repertoire, Rangers\u2019 Cole Winn is anything but a simple pitcher now<\/a><\/p>\n

Winn has not allowed an earned run in 23 1\/3 innings this season, his second as a full-time reliever.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>Rangers\u2019 Kumar Rocker appears to have crossed final hurdle to be cleared to pitch again<\/a><\/p>\n

The Rangers placed the right-handed pitcher on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder impingement in late April.<\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re one week into Major League Baseball\u2019s new season, and you know what that means: It\u2019s time to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[5,3321,384,386,4,149,1567,69,3240],"class_list":{"0":"post-34291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas-rangers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-bruce-bochy","10":"tag-corey-seager","11":"tag-marcus-semien","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-rangers","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-texas-rangers","16":"tag-texasrangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114524246740981964","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}