For Rangers’ Mitch Garver, strong showing vs. Red Sox highlighted a blessing and a curse
BOSTON – Mitch Garver can thump. The Rangers can use one more thumper for a strong lineup that showed some fissures in an uneven June. Simple solution, right?
Sounds that way. Just like the bookcase you brought home from Ikea. Insert Part A into Socket B. Tighten it all up. Make your home a designer’s dream!
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Except the thing almost never comes out looking like the picture on the website.
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On Tuesday, the Rangers unpacked Garver, inserted him into the lineup and everything looked perfect in a much-needed 6-2 win over Boston at rainy Fenway Park. Garver hit a three-run homer. He doubled and scored. He walked twice, once with the bases loaded.
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“This is the Mitch we know,” manager Bruce Bochy said afterward. “It was good to see him let it go and get some good at-bats off there.”
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It looked wonderful. But a permanent fix?
Well, it’s complicated.
Just like the previous 24 hours had been for the Rangers. On Monday, they fell down six runs early, eight a bit after that, rallied back to take the lead and ultimately suffered their third loss to the oncoming Astros in four days. Their lead in the AL West trimmed to three games, they then had to jump on a plane, fly to the East Coast and be at Fenway first thing in the morning. And the forecast called for a slog, which it became.
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The hard schedule and funky Fenway led Bochy to make some changes to the lineup. He gave his workhorse All-Star catcher Jonah Heim a day off, which allowed Garver to catch for the first time in July. It also allowed him to give Robbie Grossman, a veteran of the AL, a start in front of the daunting Green Monster and give Ezequiel Duran, in a 0-for-12 skid, a day to simply focus on hitting. That trio — Duran, Garver and Grossman — had a hand in all the Rangers’ runs Tuesday.
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For Garver, it also highlighted both a blessing and a curse. When he catches, he can be among the most dominant offensive catchers in the game. The curse: It hasn’t seemed to apply at DH, which is where the Rangers have the biggest opening now. And the biggest need.
As a catcher this year, he’s hit all four of his homers in 31 at-bats over nine starts. As a DH: He’s toting a .180/.268/.220/.488 slash line in 56 plate appearances. What’s that? Small sample size you say? For his career, Garver has an .854 OPS as a catcher, a .655 OPS at DH.
“I needed that,” Garver said. “It was good to get to start, to catch a good game and contribute offensively.”
And about the disparity in his numbers:
“You just feel more involved catching,” said Garver. “You are more in tune with the speed of the game. You are constantly seeing pitches come in. There is probably less thinking going on. It’s more like the game rolls by faster because when you’re focused on defense, you’re focused on defense and when you’re trying to bat, you turn that on really quick and then you have to shut it off when the at-bat is over.”
As far as catching goes, the opportunity just isn’t there. He’s the backup to the best catcher in the American League and an All-Star starter. Catching starts are going to be infrequent.
Garver hasn’t started back-to-back games behind the plate this year. He’s still third on the team in games caught, two behind the since released Sandy León, who filled in for him while Garver tended to a sprain knee. After he came back in early June, he started four consecutive games, though only one was at catcher. He homered in it.
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It’s led to a frustrating month. Bochy, a former catcher, said he and Garver have talked about the topic.
“I feel like when I get behind the plate and I really get a chance to get back there and help the pitching staff and contribute offensively,” Garver said. “That’s where my value lies.”
There could be more need at DH. The Rangers rank 25th in the majors in production from the DH spot with a .655 OPS. Against Houston, the Rangers started Duran and Josh Smith there. The DHs did not manage to reach base once in the four-game series, going 0 for 15 with six strikeouts. Duran and Smith combined to go hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position.
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“I think we have some pretty good options,” Bochy said. “Duran has been the DH some and he’s swinging [the bat] well. And what Mitch did today, you know that helps you get some at-bats, too. We’re looking at matchups, who is swinging the bat well and who maybe needs a day off their feet. There’s a lot of things involved in who the DH is.”
In other words: It’s complicated.
On Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant
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Source: The Dallas Morning News
