The Texas Rangers failed to make the progress they were supposed to in the 2022 season, and manager Chris Woodward was fired in the middle of the campaign. After Woodward was fired, Tony Beasley assumed leadership, but it was obvious the Rangers wanted a new perspective to guide their club in 2023. Here comes Bruce Bochy, the new manager the Rangers recently hired.
Bochy gained notoriety while playing for the San Francisco Giants, where he won three World Series championships over the course of five seasons. Bochy, who had previously stated that he would retire from coaching after the 2019 season with San Fran, has been persuaded to come out of retirement for the chance to revive the Rangers team.
Texas has a lot of talent on their roster, but it didn’t seem like they were close to assembling it into a winning team this year. Given his history of guiding the Giants to championships, it is hoped that Bochy can guide the Rangers to a similar turnaround. Here are three reasons why Bochy’s time with the Rangers will start out strong and why he will take them to the postseason in 2023.
3. Bruce Bochy knows how to manage a pitching staff
Bochy’s ability to control his pitching staff is one of his strongest managerial qualities. With San Francisco, he skillfully exploited his powerful staffs to lead the team to its most recent championships. He’ll need to act similarly here if he wants to succeed with the Rangers.
The Rangers pitching staff isn’t nearly as strong as those Giants squads were during Bochy’s championship seasons, and that is the problem. Nevertheless, Bochy will at least have some talented pitchers to deal with thanks to the strong arms in both the starting rotation (Martin Perez, Jon Gray) and the bullpen (Brock Burke, Matt Moore, Jose LeClerc).
The Rangers do require a de facto ace because they cannot rely on Martin Perez, who entered this season with a career ERA of 4.71, to record a 2.89 ERA for a second consecutive year. There will be ways for them to do that, and after making changes to their lineup in the previous offseason, the pitching staff ought to take centre stage this time around. Bruce Bochy ought to be able to work his magic if they can bolster their core group of players with some additional skill.
2. The Rangers lineup is already in very good shape
As was already known, the Rangers significantly improved their lineup last summer. Because of the poor pitching staff, it didn’t really matter much, but Texas and Bochy now have a solid foundation on which to build. The lineup doesn’t require as much improvement considering they are currently in an excellent position.
When the Rangers signed Marcus Semien and Corey Seager to long-term contracts in the previous summer, they created two of the biggest headlines. Although Semien hit 26 home runs compared to Seager’s 33, both players’ batting averages were below.250, which needs to improve going ahead. Adolis Garcia and Nathaniel Lowe, among others, had successful campaigns, so it’s obvious that there is cause for enthusiasm for this group.
Due to numerous flaws in their lineup that have plagued them all season, the Rangers’ second half of the lineup should be improved. With the exception of Garcia, Texas’ outfield is lacking, and the position at third base has been largely underutilised all season. However, those weaknesses are controllable, and Bochy should be able to turn this squad around with the support of the Rangers lineup’s solid core.
1. Bruce Bochy has a strong postseason pedigree
Naturally, knowing what it takes to advance to the postseason aids in turning around a squad. Given that the Rangers’ current lineup lacks much postseason experience, it is evident why the team hired Bochy. Building a winner requires understanding what winning is like.
In addition to having a lot of success in the postseason, Bochy has also, as we all know by this point, won three World Series championships. The Rangers are hopeful that Bochy can help the Rangers achieve the same success as he helped the Giants achieve those championships.
Although recent veteran manager hires, like Tony La Russa with the Chicago White Sox, have failed to deliver, it doesn’t follow that Bochy will have a similar outcome. Due to his extended absence from the sport, Texas could benefit from his continued motivation and vigour this season. It will be intriguing to watch whether Bruce Bochy can successfully guide the Rangers back to the playoffs next season.
3 reasons Bruce Bochy will take the Rangers back to the MLB playoffs in 2023 were originally published on ClutchPoints.
