This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry's Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
The Rangers are in the middle of their most crucial stretch of baseball to this point. Logic says that getting your biggest offseason addition back from injury can only make things better.
But Joc Pederson, who is in the first of a two-year deal with Texas, has not looked like the guy they signed all season long, even when healthy. After an 0-for-4 return against the Angels in Anaheim on Monday, Pederson logged just one at-bat over the next two games -- a pinch-hit groundout on Tuesday. He sat the entirety of the Rangers' 6-3 win in the series finale on Wednesday.
A veteran of 12 Major League seasons, Pederson is a two-time All-Star (2015 with LAD, 2022 with SF) and owns a career .799 OPS with 211 home runs and 555 RBIs.
It’s easy to see why the Rangers went out and signed him.
Pederson was working through the worst offensive season of his career before a fractured wrist sidelined him in May. At the time, he was slashing .131/.269/.238 with just two home runs and five doubles in 46 games.
“It’s pretty frustrating,” Pederson said. “You come into every season wanting to have a healthy year to play and help contribute to a winning team. Obviously, I started tough, so helping the team win was not going well. And then getting hurt on something that I couldn't control, that held me out a lot longer than I would have liked. The body heals at its own pace. So that was doubly frustrating. I guess you could say.”
Though at the time of the injury, things seemed to be looking up with a .431 OBP and .863 OPS in his last 17 games from May 6-24.
Pederson is all too aware of his struggles.
“When you're grinding, it's hard because the mental load is a lot in this game and the stress that comes with it. I mean, getting hurt sucks, but part of being a professional is making the best of situations that you're in. Part of that was recovering mentally and getting in a better spot, mentally and physically, to, like I said, try to help the team win. That's the end goal.”
Now he’s back after a two-month hiatus. And he’s still scuffling.
Pederson played just two rehab games with Double-A Frisco in Wichita this past week. He went 2-for-6 with one walk. He was the RoughRiders’ designated hitter on Thursday and started at first base Friday, logging three plate appearances and four innings of defensive action in a rain-shortened game.
In three games, he’s gone 0-for-9 with three strikeouts and no walks. Manager Bruce Bochy said they wouldn’t have brought him back if they didn’t think he was ready.
They’re just waiting for it to click into place. But they don’t have much time if the Rangers want to keep the momentum going through the Deadline and into a postseason push.
“We signed Joc to be part of this offense,” Bochy said. “He’s a big part of this offense. He’s a guy that’s hitting in the heart of the order and driving in runs. That’s what he can do. We think he can contribute to an offense that has picked it up. He should make us a better offense with his bat in there.”