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Morning, all!
There’s good news on Chris Martin, who apparently heard gears grinding in his elbow on Tuesday after the first pitch in what would have been his third consecutive appearance. An MRI showed no structural damage and no immediate decision is being made to send him to the IL.
Whatever it is that’s wrong with the Rangers’ offense, maybe Brett Boone is the guy that can fix it. Boone says he’s “really invested,” but is not really into modern metrics.
For whatever it’s worth, Boone comes from a family with a rich baseball pedigree and a long history (three generations of Boones played in the majors from 1948 through 2010) and maybe it’s not all genetics.
Kevin Pillar started his rehab assignment Wednesday, and once he’s ready to return that will mean a potentially permanent decision on either Sam Haggerty or Tucker Barnhart. Both can elect for free agency rather than an assignment to the minors.
The Rangers are having an elite defensive year, for which I’m sure the pitching staff is grateful. Bruce Bochy attributes the improvement to better positioning and better adjustments.
Last night marked yet another solid start for Patrick Corbin, who was expected to eat innings and give up runs and has instead eaten innings and pitched well. He has managed to put up his best ERA through this point in the season since 2018.
Corbin doesn’t get the attention that Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom, and Tyler Mahle get but he is quietly and reliably getting the job done.
Nobody told Jake Burger that there’s nothing about the Texas Rangers in the catechism.