Just How Much Has Rangers New Hitting Coach Impacted MLB Power Rankings?

The Texas Rangers were on a bit of an uptick before a frustrating series at the New York Yankees. Getting swept by the Bronx Bombers put a damper on things, but doesn’t completely erase what came before.

The Rangers had won consecutive series against the Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies before splitting with the Houston Astros, pumping life back into the club as well as closing the gap in the American League West.

Much of that enthusiasm came on the offensive end. With the Rangers’ starting pitching maintaining the high standard that’s been set all season, the bats came alive during a six-game winning streak, as Texas averaged more than five runs during that span.

Is Hitting Coach Bret Boone Making a Difference for Rangers?

In the current four-game skid going into Friday’s series opener at the Chicago White Sox, the Rangers are scoring just two runs per contest. That led to an obvious question in the latest edition of ESPN’s MLB Power Rankings, which did see the Rangers move up a spot to No. 17.

So how is the Bret Boone-as-hitting-coach era going? There are mixed reviews as the Rangers still reside in the bottom third of the majors in OPS over the past couple of weeks -- but they have shown signs of coming out of it. A nice five-win stretch in six games against the Tigers and Rockies helped vault them back into contention in the AL West, with the offense putting up three six-plus run outings over that span. Josh Jung has been hot since Boone came onboard, compiling an OPS over 1.000 in his past 11 games. Texas needs more of that from plenty of others in its lineup.ESPN.com

The Rangers could use more pop from Marcus Semien, Jake Burger, Joc Pederson, Wyatt Langford and others. Boone can only do so much, but it’s his job now to help get the offense clicking like so many expected coming into the season.

The power rankings for the rest of the AL West: Seattle Mariners (8), Astros (15), Athletics (23) and Los Angeles Angels (24).