The Rangers have given 31-year old lefty swinging David Murphy a full-time job for the first time (in LF) and he is struggling with the bat so far this year.  Murphy has played in 13 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 8 for 50 (.160 avg, .488 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 4 RBIs.  Murphy is struggling with both righty and lefty pitchers so far this year.  He has a career batting average of .289 (.835 OPS) vs. righty pitchers and he is hitting .263 (.666 OPS) against lefty pitchers so far in his career.  So it will bear watching to see if Murphy can’t handle hitting lefties this year.  Regardless, he is going to have to start hitting if he wants to keep his full time gig for a while.

The Texas Rangers need more offensive production out of 25-year old lefty swinging Leonys Martin and 29-year old righty swinging Craig Gentry, who are platooning in CF.  Martin has played in 6 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 3 for 17 (.176 avg, .476 OPS) with 4 runs scored.  Gentry has played in 5 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 4 for 13 (.308 avg, .896 OPS) with 5 runs scored and 3 stolen bases.  Gentry is actually off to a good start, but the Rangers need more out of Leonys Martin with the bat moving forward.

31-year old lefty swinging outfielder Josh Hamilton was awesome early this year, as evidenced by the fact that he still leads the majors in RBIs with 83 of them. He has played in 91 games this year and he is 98 of 345 (.284 avg, .931 OPS) with 57 runs scored, 28 homers, 83 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Those are rock solid numbers, but he has been pretty awful lately. He has played in 19 games so far in July and he is 10 for 69 (.145 avg, .505 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 3 homers, 10 RBIs and 21 whiffs. Since June 1st, Hamilton has played in 44 games in which he is 31 of 163 (.190 avg) with 18 runs scored, 7 homers, 26 RBIs, 2 stolen bases and 56 whiffs. His struggles have prompted team president Nolan Ryan to chime in about the fact that Hamilton is swinging a lot of bad pitches and giving away ABs. The Rangers hope that Hamilton shakes off the criticism and gets back to mashing to ball as they need all the help they can get in an effort to hold off the surging A’s and the improved Angels in the A.L. West.

35-year old righty swinging DH/1B/3B Michael Young is starting to slow down with a bat in his hands. He has played in 56 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 66 for 232 (.284 avg, .685 OPS) with 25 runs scored, 3 homers, 24 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Those aren’t bad numbers for a middle infielder, but not so good for a corner infielder/DH. Young has now played in 1,723 games in his first 13 years with the Rangers and he is 2,127 of 7,020 (.303 avg, .797 OPS) with 1,031 runs scored, 172 homers, 941 RBIs and 89 stolen bases. Young is already the Rangers’ all-time leader in games played (1,723), hits (2,127), runs scored (1,031), doubles (398) and triples (53). He is also tied for #8 in batting average (.303), #6 in homers (172), #3 in RBIs (941) and #6 in walks (508) in Rangers’ history. The Rangers hope that Young starts producing at the plate soon, so they don’t have to start cutting his P.T.

29-year old lefty swinging outfielder David Murphy is having a rough time so far in 2011. Coming into this season, Murphy played in 440 games in his first five years in the majors and he was 393 for 1,393 (.282 avg, .802 OPS) with 200 runs scored, 47 homers, 212 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. The Rangers thought that Murphy would keep on rolling along in 2011, but it hasn’t been the case. Murphy has played in 86 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 68 for 280 (.243 avg, .637 OPS) with 29 runs scored, 5 homers, 23 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. The Rangers are still holding out hope that Murphy will finish the 2011 season strongly.

Starting 2B Ian Kinsler isn’t hitting much lately after getting off to a fast start to the 2011 season. Kinsler is only 5 for 30 (.167 avg) in his last 8 games and he has 5 runs scored, 3 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Kinsler has now played in 35 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 29 for 133 (.218 avg, .744 OPS) with 22 runs scored, 5 homers, 15 RBIs and 7 stolen bases. The Rangers need Kinsler to get back on the right track with Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz out of the lineup due to injury.

The Rangers need starting CF Julio Borbon to get his act together. He has played in 6 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 4 for 18 (.222 avg, .744 OPS) with 1 run scored, 2 triples and 3 RBIs. Borbon has outstanding speed but it doesn’t really matter if he can’t get on base. Borbon has also had issues on D as he has looked lost in CF since spring training. The Rangers need Borbon to pick up his game because they don’t want to have to use Josh Hamilton in CF. Still, with David Murphy playing as well as he is right now he is pushing Borbon for P.T. Murphy has played in 4 games for the Rangers so far this year and he is 5 for 12 (.417 avg, 1.250 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 1 homer, 3 RBIs and 2 stolen bases.

The Rangers will be without 30-year old righty reliever Frank Francisco for at least the first round of the playoffs due to a ribs injury. Francisco pitched in 56 games (0 starts) for the Rangers during the regular season and he was 6-4 with 2 saves, a 3.76 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. He whiffed 60 batters in only 52 2/3 innings while allowing only 49 hits this year showing how nasty he can be. The Rangers have a lot of depth in the bullpen to cover for Francisco.

22-year old righty swinging shortstop Elvis Andrus was expected to take a step up offensively in 2010 but he has regressed in his second year in Texas. Andrus has played in 138 games for the Rangers this year and he is 148 of 551 (.269 avg, .652 OPS) with 84 runs scored, 0 homers, 35 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. His OPS has dropped quite a bit as Andrus has turned into little more than a singles hitter with no power. The Rangers need more out of Andrus offensively if he’s going to continue to be the starting shortstop of this team.

Expectations were high for 24-year old lefty swinging CF Julio Borbon after the rookie season he put up in 2009. Last year, Borbon played in 46 games in which he was 49 of 157 (.312 avg, .790 OPS) with 30 runs scored, 4 homers, 20 RBIs and 19 stolen bases. This year has been a different story for Borbon as he has struggled some. He has played in 96 games for the Rangers this year and he is 81 of 300 (.267 avg, .656 OPS) with 42 runs scored, 3 homers, 27 RBIs and 10 stolen bases. The Rangers would like it if Borbon got hot so they could use him in CF all of the time.