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Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor hit his 20th and 21st home runs of his year in Friday’s 8-3 win over the Kansas City Royals, reaching the 20-homer barrier for the first time in his three MLB seasons.

He had just nine homers in 386 at-bats as a rookie in 2014 but improved to 16 (in 426 at-bats) last season, with 12 of those coming after the All-Star break.

The 22-year-old has built on last year’s strong finish for a true breakout campaign in 2016, and he is on pace for 33 home runs, 84 RBI and 100 runs in 608 at-bats.

Also boasting a .282 batting average and .508 slugging percentage, Odor’s only weakness has been his inability to draw walks, with just nine in 96 games limiting his on-base percentage to .301.

He was frequently used as the team’s lead-off hitter early in the year, but the Rangers have wisely deployed him from the 5-, 6- and 7-slots over the past couple months, which makes far more sense for a player with Odor’s unusual high-slugging, low-OBP profile.

In any case, Odor has repeated the feats of Ian Kinsler and Alfonso Soriano to become one of only three batters in franchise history to record 20 or more home runs in a season while primarily playing second base, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Kinsler accomplished the feat three times in eight years with the Rangers, topping out at 32 in 2011. Soriano did it twice in just two seasons with the franchise, including a 36-homer campaign in 2005.

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Texas Rangers outfielder Ian Desmond hit his 20th home run of the season during Wednesday’s 6-4 loss to the Oakland Athletics, becoming just the fourth player in major league history to record 20-homer campaigns as both a primary shortstop and center fielder, per MLB Stat of the Day (h/t MLB.com’s Ryan Posner).

Mostly a shortstop while playing for the Washington Nationals from 2009 to 2015, the 30-year-old Desmond has made a seamless transition to the outfield in his first seasons with the Rangers, making 74 starts in center field and 27 starts in left field (101 total) through the team’s first 103 games.

Although he’s committed five errors in center and three more in left, Desmond has more than made up for the miscues with his impressive range and even more impressive batting.

His current batting average (.307), on-base percentage (.359) and slugging percentage (.525) would all represent career-best marks, and he’s also on pace for 31 homers, 98 RBI and 115 runs—all of which would be career highs.

Playing home games in Arlington has certainly helped, with Desmond sporting a 1.001 OPS at home compared to a much more modest .786 mark on the road.

In any case, the last player to accomplish Desmond’s recent feat was Milwaukee Brewers superstar Robin Yount, who proved highly effective as both a center fielder and shortstop for long stretches of his 20-year Hall of Fame career.

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Cole Hamels never really came close to winning a Cy Young Award when he was in the National League. He placed in the voting four times, but never higher than fifth. The competition was just too good.

So, maybe being in the American League and part of a race with too much competition is just the ticket he needs.

Hamels is taking care of his own business in his first full season with the Texas Rangers. The 32-year-old left-hander entered his Thursday assignment against the Kansas City Royals with an 11-2 record and a 2.87 ERA. He then improved on both marks in a 3-2 win, pitching eight innings of two-run ball with six hits, a walk and a season-high 12 strikeouts.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, the highlights:

The Rangers have gotten a full season’s worth of starts from Hamels since acquiring him from the Philadelphia Phillies on deadline day last year. He’s gone 19-3 with a 3.15 ERA in 217 innings. This is otherwise known as pretty good ROI.

Meanwhile, Hamels is as good a bet as anyone to win the AL Cy Young if he keeps this up.

Records aren’t all the rage anymore, but he’ll draw a crowd if he stays on a pace for 20 wins. His 2.84 ERA, which is second only to Aaron Sanchez’s (2.72) among AL starters, will too. With 133.1 innings, Hamels is also in the top 10 of the AL in innings pitched.

If he’s sounding like a top Cy Young candidate, that’s because he is. This according to years of experience talking about such things, and also to ESPN.com’s Cy Young predictor. It’s tough to explain—the short version is that it’s a doohickey that runs on thingamajiggery—but it has Hamels marked as one of the top five contenders for the award.

If you’re looking for some kind of proclamation for Hamels as the man to beat, look elsewhere. This year’s AL Cy Young race has no such thing.

In fact, it’s hard to even call it a race. To borrow a line from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, it’s less a race and more an endurance contest: a battle between evenly matched contenders in which the last man standing will win.

The Cy Young predictor makes that clear, showing Hamels in a thick bundle of well-qualified AL starters that also includes Sanchez, Chris Tillman, Chris Sale, Danny Salazar and, surprisingly, Zach Britton.

The wins above replacement leaderboard, a necessary go-to when discussing any awards race, doesn’t clear things up. At Baseball-Reference.com, which keeps things simple with a WAR formula that focuses on runs allowed and innings pitched, the top of the leaderboard looked like this at the start of play Thursday:

That’s a large number of good pitchers packed into a not-large amount of space. Hamels is going to get a boost from his Thursday performance, but it won’t be enough to put him clearly ahead of the rest of the pack.

With two months of baseball left, there’s hardly a guarantee the AL Cy Young “race” will stay this closely bunched. But even if the number of contenders is cut in half by the end, the voters will still have a pickle on their hands. And to solve this particular pickle, they’d have to get nerdy.

And for now, that’s where Hamels’ case gets tricky.

Although his surface numbers are strong, David Schoenfield of ESPN.com is right in pointing out Hamels has weak peripherals. He’s only ninth in the American League in strikeout rate (8.9 per nine innings) and in the bottom seven of the league in walk rate (3.4 per nine innings). 

Hamels isn’t knocking down any doors with his quality of contact allowed either. According to Baseball Savant, he entered Thursday allowing an average of 87.8 miles per hour on batted balls. Solid, but not near the top of the leaderboard. He is also allowing 1.15 home runs per nine innings.

This could mean Hamels is getting lucky, and that in turn could mean a regression in the final two months of the season. That would more than likely knock him out of the AL Cy Young race.

Or, it could mean Hamels is outpacing his peripherals in invisible ways. That hasn’t been his style in the past, but it’s not fair to compare his past self to his current self. His past self was a fastball-changeup guy. Brooks Baseball can show his current self is something else:

Hamels is now a fastball-cutter pitcher who also shows a sinker, changeup and curveball. That’s an unpredictable pitcher, which is precisely what he strives to be.

“It’s a matter of figuring it out and trying not to be predictable,” he said of making adjustments to Eno Sarris of FanGraphs last month.

Hamels may be at his most unpredictable when he absolutely needs to be. Compared to when nobody is on, it helps that his strikeout rate, walk rate and exit velocity are all better when runners are on base:

Because few things explain Hamels’ success like the fact he’s stranding runners at the highest rate in the league, him keeping this up will be a crucial part of his chase for his first Cy Young.

The odds are he won’t be an easy choice for the award even if he pulls it off. There’s still likely to be a crowd of good candidates, some of whom will have better peripherals than him.

But any time a guy can get to the end of the season with a sparkling record, low ERA and high innings count, he has a shot. And for Hamels, this is probably the best shot at the award he’s had yet.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Texas Rangers first baseman and designated hitter Prince Fielder will undergo a neck operation on Friday that will end his 2016 season.

Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram reported on Wednesday that Fielder is slated for fusion surgery.

Fielder appeared in 89 games this season, posting a slash line of .212/.292/.334 with eight home runs and 44 RBI.

The Star-Telegram‘s Stefan Stevenson reported last Wednesday that Fielder had herniation in his neck near the area where he had a fusion operation in May 2014.

Fielder, 32, is a six-time All-Star and one of the most dangerous power hitters in baseball when he’s healthy. Unfortunately, he appeared to be fighting through pain all year long, which was also limiting his productivity at the plate.

Although Texas has alternatives to turn to in Fielder’s absence, hopes of him returning to his prime form have taken a considerable hit, if not his career outlook. Due to make $24 million in each of the next four seasons, per Spotrac, Fielder has his work cut out to live up to that price tag.

Outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, catcher Bryan Holaday and starting pitchers Derek Holland and Colby Lewis are among the key Rangers who are on the disabled list, via RosterResource.com.

The club’s once-commanding lead in the American League West has shrunk in July, putting all the more pressure on others to step up.

Fielder’s leadership and gregarious personality will also be missed in the clubhouse with his season being cut short. Jurickson Profar has played multiple games at every infield position for Texas in 2016, though, and has served as DH as well.

Joey Gallo just made his 2016 debut on Tuesday and had a solo homer against the Oakland Athletics, which bodes well for his future as he figures to fill in at first base.

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Joey Gallo is very good at hitting the ball over the fence. In fact, he did it Tuesday in his first game since the Texas Rangers recalled him. 

It came in the fifth inning of the Rangers’ 6-3 loss to the Oakland A’s. Like most Gallo blasts, it was impressive—a no-doubt drive to left-center field off Oakland starter Sonny Gray that might as well have lit up the scoreboard the moment it touched his bat.

Now, the question becomes: Can the 22-year-old showcase his prodigious pop frequently enough to stick in The Show and help the Rangers win a second consecutive American League West title?

Gallo, a Texas first-round pick in 2012, made his MLB debut last season. He showed flashes, hitting six home runs in 36 games, including one that traveled an estimated “true distance” of 471 feet, according to ESPN’s Home Run Tracker, which tied him for the 13th-longest homer of the season.

At the same time, Gallo fell victim to his Kryptonite, striking out 57 times in 123 plate appearances. He was sent down in late June and didn’t get another taste of the big leagues until September. 

Now, after posting a .939 OPS with 19 homers in 70 games with the Round Rock Express, Gallo is back in Arlington.

Texas threw him straight into the fire, giving him a start at first base against Oakland and slotting him sixth in the order. 

The Rangers are far from anemic offensively. They rank among the top five in the AL in hits and runs scored.

But with the loss of veteran Prince Fielder to a season-ending neck injury and outfielder Shin-Soo Choo to lower-back inflammation, there are ample opportunities for Gallo to fill in.

The left-handed slugger has seen time in the minors at first, third and both the corner outfield slots, so he gives manager Jeff Banister flexibility.

He matters for this season, obviously, as the 58-43 Rangers try to maintain their 3.5-game lead over the Houston Astros.

But he’s also part of an impressive young core of hitters that includes outfielder Nomar Mazara, second baseman Rougned Odor and infielder Jurickson Profar, as Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan opined:

Speaking of which, it’s possible Texas could move Gallo from a position of strength before the trade deadline.

On July 17, Passan reported the Rangers might be willing to part with Gallo to acquire one of the Tampa Bay Rays‘ controllable starters, such as Chris Archer or Jake Odorizzi. And ESPN The Magazine‘s Buster Olney noted on July 20 that some rival evaluators believe Texas is open to moving Gallo for the right price.

The return, undoubtedly, would need to be massive—likely an ace-level arm to pair with Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish and shore up a wobbly rotation that general manager Jeff Daniels called the team’s top priority, per Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The point is, Gallo is not untouchable.

As long as he’s in a Rangers uniform, however, the idea is for him to change games with that head-turning pop. 

Gallo remains strikeout-prone, as he proved by whiffing twice Tuesday. But there’s room in today’s MLB for a guy with power who K’s a lot. And Gallo can get on base, as his .371 career minor league OBP attests. 

Mostly, the Rangers need a spark. They’ve gone 7-14 in July and have watched the Lone Star State rival ‘Stros creep too close for comfort. 

When Fielder and Choo landed on the disabled list, the Rangers called up outfielder Delino DeShields and infielder Hanser Alberto. At the time, Daniels said it was about “versatility,” per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.

“We did talk about Joey, and if he keeps hitting the way he is, I expect at some point we’ll see him,” Daniels said, per Grant.

Some point has arrived. And it coincides with a scuffling Rangers squad that still has an opportunity to wrestle control of the wide-open Junior Circuit.

Joey Gallo hitting the ball over the fence on a semi-nightly basis would be an excellent start.

And you know what? We’re buying. The kid got a taste last season. While he’s still young, he’s a year older and, presumably, a year wiser.

He’s not going to quit whiffing, just as a zebra can’t change its stripes. But enough homers and walks will make the swings and misses tolerable. 

Maybe it’s the intoxicating effect of that big homer he hit Tuesday. Maybe we’re blinded by the allure of the long ball. But it says here Gallo’s power—and the Rangers—will play deep into October.

All statistics current as of July 26 and courtesy of MLB.com and Baseball-Reference.com.

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An underwhelming 2015 season left Texas Rangers star Ian Desmond in need of reinventing himself.

Like Apple on the brink of bankruptcy in the late 1990s or Taylor Swift transitioning from country singer to mainstream pop star, Desmond’s brand was due for a seismic change when he entered free agency this past offseason.

So the lifelong shortstop went into full marketing mode. In an interview with Bleacher Report Saturday, Desmond said his camp went to the Texas Rangers and told them he was capable of playing in the outfield. At the time, Desmond had played only 7.1 MLB innings in right field.

But the Rangers took a chance, believing in his athleticism. It paid off: Texas (55-41) sits atop the AL West, in large part due to a career year from Desmond.

Desmond has proved to be an elite outfielder. That, combined with his .319/.372/.535 line this season, has him poised to sign a megadeal when he re-enters free agency this coming offseason.

“That was kind of like the whole thing: I would be willing to move positions for a contending team or a team that I felt like had a shortstop that was better than me at short,” Desmond said of the position change. “So whatever I had to do to get to a contending team, I was going to do.”

Elvis Andrus was already firmly entrenched as Texas’ shortstop. So any hope Desmond had of latching onto the roster was at another position.

According to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, he signed a one-year, $8 million deal that offered him a spot on a contending team and a mulligan at free agency. He could prove himself this season and, if all went well, earn the lucrative deal he had anticipated when he initially rejected the Nationals’ $107 million offer prior to the 2014 season, according to MLB.com.

But it would take a team that was willing to take a risk.

In manager Jeff Banister, Desmond found his perfect match. During Banister’s first year as an MLB manager in 2015, he showed a willingness to be creative. He started 6’5″, 235-pound power hitter Joey Gallo in center field for a game. This year, Banister has played Jurickson Profar, a middle-infield prospect, at first base in an effort to get him plate appearances. Profar had not played the position prior to this season.

The Texas manager’s outside-the-box thinking was exactly what Desmond needed when he was looking for a new home. However, Banister contends that his creativity had little to do with it, conceding that the team was fortunate to sign such a great athlete.

Banister relays a story from the opening week of spring training when he watched Desmond first take fly balls in the outfield. Desmond was shagging balls in left field but making plays in right-center. When Desmond showed that kind of range, Banister knew his athleticism would translate to the outfield.

“The guy’s a dynamic athlete,” Banister said. “So I knew from everything that I had seen, from all that I heard, that he had instincts for the game, feel for reading the bat. So once you could see the desire and the determination, I felt like it would be a good fit, a solid transition.”

But Desmond hasn’t just been a serviceable outfielder. Already this season, he has shown he can change the game defensively when playing on the grass.

According to FanGraphs, Desmond has an ultimate zone rating of 8.8, which ranks ninth among outfielders this season. Each player above him in that category is a career outfielder.

Such prowess in the outfield early in the season prompted Banister to move him to center field, one of the most important positions on the diamond, after Delino DeShields Jr., the team’s Opening Day starter, struggled.

Desmond has started 68 games in center.

That kind of flexibility defensively, combined with his infield experience, will make Desmond even more desirable to teams this offseason. The Chicago Cubs similarly employ Kris Bryant who can play all the outfield positions and third base.

A player who can play multiple positions in effect expands the roster. Desmond’s versatility allows those with only one comfortable position to be worked into the lineup should their bat create a favorable matchup against a given starting pitcher.

In the NL, with the double-switch in play, Desmond offers even more value defensively.

“We’ve always liked him,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. “Our scouts—I’ve got to give them a lot of credit—they’ve always identified him as a guy who would be a real natural in the outfield. I got to give him a ton of credit.

“We can’t imagine where we’d be without him. He’s been a huge part of this team.”

Of course, he’s made an impact at the plate, too.

Desmond wouldn’t have earned a spot on this year’s American League All-Star team without stellar offensive numbers. Through the completion of Thursday’s games, Desmond led Texas in batting average, on-base percentage, RBI (58) and doubles. His .535 slugging percentage ranked first on the team among regular starters, while his 18 homers also ranked first.

It’s the best he has played since the 2013 season, when he hit .280/.331/.453. Desmond rejected Washington’s nine-figure offer prior to spring training the following season.

Two subpar seasons ensued. But in his comeback campaign this year, Desmond has seen a marked improvement in how hard he is hitting the ball.

According to FanGraphs, 21.6 percent of the balls he has hit this season were line drives—his highest total since 2013. Of the fly balls he has hit, 23.1 percent were home runs, which is a career best.

“It’s all about feel, and for the last couple years I’ve been looking for that feel, and I got it back and it feels really good,” Desmond said.

“It’s just a product of being in the right position and that matched with a little bit of pitch sequence that I’m seeing now in this league, and over here they’re starting to shift me a little bit more. So, it’s opened up some more holes where balls I would have hit before would have been caught.”

That approach is just one example of an advanced understanding of the game, which, along with his newfound versatility and elite hitting, has made him one of the stars of the upcoming free-agent class.

Certainly, it has affirmed his decision to walk away from the deal the Nationals offered in the spring of 2014.

And as he enters free agency this winter, there will be plenty of stats to throw around from this season that validate his asking for a more lucrative deal. Analytics will prove his value to any team.

But four words best describe Desmond’s 2016 campaign: I told you so.

Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @SethGruen.

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Texas Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo is heading to the 15-day disabled list with a back injury, per Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  

Continue for updates.

Choo Received Anti-Inflammatory Injection

Wednesday, July 20

Stevenson noted Choo made his first start since the All-Star break on Tuesday and was dealing with lower back stiffness before receiving the injection. Stevenson wrote that “the Rangers hope he’s able to return in two weeks.”

This is another setback for Choo after he went on the disabled list earlier in the year because of a strained hamstring. That happened one game after he returned from a previous DL stint with a calf injury.

Thus far, Choo has a .260 batting average, seven home runs and 17 RBI in 2016.

Losing him for significant time would be a blow for the Rangers, considering he is a productive force at the plate who has been in the big leagues since 2005. He has registered a .300 batting average or better in three different seasons and has four years of 20 or more home runs on his resume, including the 2015 campaign, when he drilled 22 long balls and tallied 82 RBI for Texas.

While Choo helped the Rangers reach the postseason last year, they will likely turn toward the future when looking for a replacement.

The 22-year-old Joey Gallo and 21-year-old Nomar Mazara are both options. MLB.com ranked them as the organization’s No. 1 and No. 2 prospects, respectively, in 2015, which is a testament to how much potential they both bring to the table.

The future is bright for the Rangers with those two, but the team could still use a healthy Choo as it chases a playoff spot in the difficult American League West.

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Prince Fielder‘s dreadful 2016 season has taken another bad turn, with the Texas Rangers placing the former All-Star on the disabled list on Wednesday because of neck problems. 

Continue for updates. 

Report: Surgery Recommended for Fielder

Wednesday, July 20

Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported the Rangers placed Fielder on the 15-day DL, adding that an MRI showed the first baseman had a “herniation in [his] neck near [the] fusion” surgery he had in 2014 and that he was going to see a doctor with surgery being a possibility.   

Per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Rangers’ back doctor, Drew Dossett, is recommending that Fielder undergo surgery to repair his neck issue. 

Even though the news about Fielder does not sound good, it does provide some sense of relief for him and the Rangers since they have some reason that explains his performance in 2016. 

The 32-year-old Fielder is hitting a paltry .212/.292/.334 with eight home runs in 89 games this season. His lowest OPS over a full season prior to this campaign was a .720 mark in 2014, when he only played in 42 games before having a cervical fusion of two disks in his neck. 

Making things worse for the Rangers is that Fielder is signed through 2020 and making $24 million per season, though the Detroit Tigers are paying $6 million each season as part of the 2013 trade involving Ian Kinsler. 

Injuries continue to pile up for the Rangers, whose once-firm grasp of the American League West has dwindled to 4.5 games over the Houston Astros entering Wednesday thanks to a 4-11 record in July.

Fielder joins Shin-Soo Choo, Jake Diekman, Bryan Holaday, Josh Hamilton, Derek Holland, Colby Lewis, Tanner Scheppers and Drew Stubbs as Rangers on the disabled list.

It’s a testament to Texas’ depth that it has been able to stay afloat despite all of those injuries, but the last two months of the season are going to require a lot of shifting and maneuvering for manager Jeff Banister if the Rangers are going to make the postseason again.

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Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor is halfway through his third major league season and has just three months until his rookie contract is up, per Spotrac. 

With team control and arbitration looming, the Rangers and Odor are in talks for a new deal. But Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball reported on Thursday that negotiations “broke off, at least for today” after Texas offered the 22-year-old a six-year, $35 million deal, plus two option years.       

Continue for updates.

Odor, Rangers Will Have to Pick Up Talks Later

Thursday, July 14

If a deal is unable to get done, then Odor will have to play under team control in 2017, which was instituted when he made his major league debut back in May 2014. Because he recorded less than 172 service days that year, the Rangers received one more year from him, and if things lead to arbitration, they can limit what he makes, per FanGraphs.

After the team-controlled 2017 season, Odor would hit three straight years of arbitration, which could hurt his wallet, per Spotrac.

Heyman broke down why those contract talks ended Thursday:

Word is, he and his agent didn’t want the two team option years that were part of the offer. Odor had made a counteroffer at one point, so he has a clear interest in signing, but the sides will have to pick up another time. The sides can re-address the situation in the winter, if not sooner, and are likely to do so.

Heyman also noted that Odor “is a feisty type who wants to fight hard for the best deal,” which could make negotiations tricky in the future. 

Baseball fans are already aware of Odor’s feistiness after a May run-in with the Toronto Blue Jays‘ Jose Bautista:

Odor is on pace for a career season with a .275 average along with 16 home runs and 46 RBI. In 334 at-bats this year, he has recorded 92 hits. Last year, he had 111 in 426 at-bats. 

Those 16 home runs are tied for fourth among all second basemen, per Yahoo Sports. 

His efforts have helped the Rangers build a 5.5-game lead in the American League West with a 54-36 record, which is tied for second-best in the major leagues. 

Since he’s a young star on a blossoming team in the American League, expect the Rangers to do everything they can to keep Odor in Texas for as long as possible. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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The Texas Rangers have the best record in the American League, and they’ve mostly done it without Prince Fielder.

Oh, sure, Fielder has been around, appearing in 72 of the Rangers’ 76 games. But for much of that time, he hasn’t resembled the lineup-anchoring power hitter Texas expects him to be.

Lately, however, the six-time All-Star and son of former big league basher Cecil Fielder is showing signs of life.

If he keeps it up, it could be the secret ingredient that pushes the Rangers over the top and cements their Junior Circuit supremacy.

First, the bad news: Fielder is hitting a scant .211 on the season with a .622 OPS. Entering play on Monday, his wins above replacement (WAR) sat at a career-worst minus-1.6.

Those aren’t merely bad numbers; they’re atrocious. And they would have almost assuredly glued a less established—or less well-paid—player to the bench weeks ago.

The Rangers, however, have kept the faith in Fielder. Or maybe they fear, as ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield speculated, that “a sulking and unhappy Fielder—a potential scenario if he’s benched—won’t be a positive for the clubhouse.”

Either way, Fielder has finally begun to reward the team’s patience.

Dating back to June 17, he’s hit safely in eight straight games. On Sunday, he cracked his second home run in three days in a 6-2 win over the Boston Red Sox.

It’s a brief stretch, admittedly, and could easily be an anomalous blip in an otherwise impotent season. Hope is hope, though, and Fielder and the Rangers will take it.

“You see the at-bats are controlled, and I think he’s gained more confidence every game with his swing, with his stroke, with his approach,” Texas manager Jeff Banister said of his veteran slugger, per Ryan Posner and Ian Browne of MLB.com.

After missing most of the 2014 season to neck surgery, Fielder hit .305 with 23 homers and 98 RBI a year ago. So it’s not entirely implausible the 32-year-old could be cooking up a season-resuscitating hot streak. 

Then again, between the 2014 injury and this year’s futility, Fielder’s tenure in Texas has been largely disappointing.

This isn’t the guy the Rangers thought they were getting when they shipped fan-favorite second baseman Ian Kinsler to the Detroit Tigers in November 2013. It’s certainly not the guy they’d choose to pay $18 million annually through 2020, which is what they’ll do regardless of Fielder’s stat line.

Again, we’ll need a lot more than a decent eight-game stretch before we buy this comeback. The Rangers, though, already sit at 49-27 and hold a commanding 10-game lead over the Houston Astros in the AL West.

Plus, they’ve got 22-year-old masher Joey Gallo marinating in Triple-A, where he’s bashed 14 home runs, seven doubles and three triples through 48 games. 

Clearly, they don’t need vintage Fielder to defend their division title. He sure would help, though.

If Fielder keeps raking, he’d boost a lineup that already ranks third in the AL in runs scored thanks to contributions from the likes of outfielder and free-agent bargain Ian Desmond, second baseman and amateur boxer Rougned Odor, veteran Adrian Beltre and rookie standout Nomar Mazara.

The Rangers are also hoping to get right-hander Yu Darvish back after neck and shoulder issues hampered his return from Tommy John surgery. 

If that happens, and if Fielder’s recent uptick is for real, it could be the equivalent of Texas adding a pair of impact players at the trade deadline.

There are other worthy opponents in the AL, including the surging Cleveland Indians in the Central and the powerful Baltimore Orioles in the East. Really, in a league leveled by parity, it’s tough to pick a clear favorite. 

Texas is in the running, though. And each authoritative Fielder swing gets it closer.

“I’m just hitting the ball harder,” Fielder said, per Chris James of NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. “Making more contact, swinging at better pitches. That’s about it.”

Sounds so simple when he puts it like that. Indeed, Fielder’s home run Sunday had an eye-opening exit velocity of 111 mph, as James noted. Add his .228 batting average on balls in play, and it’s possible he’s been the victim of a little bad luck as well.

These are merely signs, but they’re positive ones. Keep stacking them on top of one another, and we might be looking at a trend.

The Rangers have gotten where they are mostly without Prince Fielder. Now, imagine where they could be with him.

All statistics current through June 26 and courtesy of MLB.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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