"Locked on Rangers" host Brice Paterik gives reasons for the Texas Rangers' massive improvement in 2023, Bruce Bochy's impact and more on the latest edition of daily podcast dedicated to the World Series champions.
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00:00 The Rangers' massive turnaround from 2022 to 2023
00:02 caught most people off guard, but not me.
00:05 And on today's show, I'm breaking down the five reasons
00:07 why that turnaround happened so quickly,
00:09 and why it is absolutely not just a flash in the pan.
00:11 All that and more on this episode of Locked on Rangers.
00:13 Let's get into it.
00:15 You are Locked on Rangers.
00:19 Your daily Texas Rangers podcast.
00:22 Part of the Locked on Podcast Network.
00:26 Your team, every day.
00:28 ♪
00:38 You are Locked on to the World Series Champion, Texas Rangers.
00:42 I'm Bryce Patrick, a creepingly addicted Texas Rangers fan,
00:44 covering this team for 10 seasons,
00:45 including all five as the founder and host of this podcast.
00:48 Thank you all so much for making Locked on Rangers
00:50 your first listen every single day.
00:52 If you're not already, you can follow me on Twitter @BrycePatrick.
00:54 You can follow this show @LockedOnRangers.
00:56 Hit subscribe on your favorite podcasting platform,
00:58 and on YouTube, where the best way you can help grow the show
01:01 is to comment nearly any single thing below.
01:03 Now, before we get into this episode,
01:05 today's show is brought to you by FanDuel.
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01:15 Now, before we get into this show,
01:17 any further I want to announce a partnership
01:19 with Sports Illustrated inside the Ranger.
01:22 I'll be partnering with them for the foreseeable future,
01:25 having my episodes on their site and partnering with them
01:28 just to kind of join their staff and help flush things out,
01:32 help grow the show even more to an even bigger audience.
01:35 So if this is your first time listening
01:37 from seeing the show on Inside the Rangers,
01:40 welcome if you're a longtime listener.
01:41 This is not going to change all that much
01:44 to the day-to-day content.
01:45 Still going to be bringing podcasts
01:46 to you five days a week.
01:47 And looking forward to this partnership.
01:49 Should be a lot of fun.
01:51 Now, this Rangers team improved so, so, so, so, so, so, so,
01:56 so, so much in 2023, en route to their first ever World Series
02:01 Championship.
02:02 I mean, just an absolutely massive improvement.
02:04 22 wins better in 2023 than in 2022.
02:10 35 wins better if you want to include the postseason, which
02:13 I very much do because the postseason very much does count.
02:17 If you want to look at their Pythagorean record improvement,
02:22 there's only 19 wins better.
02:24 So I think that's kind of a place where
02:26 you have to start from how they got so much better in 2023
02:31 than '22 is because they weren't quite as bad as the record
02:34 indicated in '22.
02:37 This is a team that had just signed Cory Seager and Marcus
02:39 Simeon and John Gray before the 2022 season.
02:44 And they were in a much better place than '21.
02:47 '21 was awful.
02:48 It was a rough, rough, rough, rough, rough, rough, rough
02:53 season with what seemed like very little hope
02:56 on the horizon.
02:57 And in 2022, everyone said, OK, well, here we go.
03:00 Here's the half billion dollar infield.
03:02 Here is where this team starts to take off.
03:05 And the team lost 94 games that year, 68-94.
03:09 And you thought, OK, well, that's not great.
03:12 Then Chris Young takes over about August.
03:17 John Daniels is fired.
03:19 Chris Woodward is fired.
03:20 And things are clearly going to change.
03:23 And I think the biggest reason for that change,
03:26 the first reason for the Rangers' massive improvement,
03:28 is Bruce Bochy.
03:31 The Bruce Bochy effect is real.
03:33 It is beautiful.
03:34 I have seen it.
03:35 We have all seen it.
03:36 In one year, one championship, hadn't coached in since 2000?
03:42 And 19, since before the COVID-19 pandemic,
03:46 he had not coached a major league baseball team.
03:49 He had not managed a major league baseball team.
03:51 Comes out of retirement year one,
03:54 steps into spring training, says,
03:56 I think this team is good enough to win it all.
03:59 And when someone like Bruce Bochy, who already had three
04:02 rings at that point, already had 25 years of managing major
04:08 league baseball experience, when he steps into spring training
04:11 day one and says, this team's good enough
04:13 to frickin' win it all, as a player,
04:16 how could you not believe him?
04:18 I mean, I like Chris Woodward as much as the next guy.
04:20 I thought he was a great dude and a decent manager
04:23 for the time that the Rangers had him.
04:25 And he made sense for that point.
04:29 But when you can get a Bruce Bochy, you sure as heck
04:32 go do it.
04:33 And Chris Young, by God did he do it.
04:36 And by God did it work.
04:39 The confidence that this man instilled in this team,
04:41 every single day, every single day,
04:43 being the perfect manager for this team,
04:47 and honestly, probably for any team.
04:49 I can't think of a single team where he wouldn't
04:51 be a perfect manager.
04:53 Because he is just the perfect modern day manager.
04:58 The actual blend of old school and new school,
05:03 like the Rangers thought they were getting in Jeff Bannister
05:05 back in the day, which they didn't really
05:08 get back in the day.
05:10 Bochy is not only feels like everyone's grandpa,
05:15 he has that kind of even keeled mentality,
05:18 that same mentality, that same approach,
05:21 that same just consistency, which
05:25 is just the name of the game in baseball,
05:28 is just being consistent is such an incredibly valuable thing,
05:31 which is why Marcus Simien is so incredibly valuable.
05:34 Because he's out there doing the same thing every single day
05:36 and being good every single day.
05:38 And Bochy, whether this team was coming off a game where
05:41 they got their butts kicked, or where they kicked everyone
05:44 else's butts, or they squeaked out a win,
05:46 or blew a terrible loss, a late lead,
05:50 it was the same guy day in, day out,
05:52 and knew how valuable that was to his team,
05:56 not only the veterans, but especially the young guys,
05:59 of just saying, hey, every day, everyone says this.
06:05 Every manager says this.
06:06 This is not just a Bruce Bochy thing.
06:08 This is just a universal baseball thing of,
06:10 we're going to approach every game the same way.
06:12 We're going to take it one day at a time.
06:14 We're going to take things as they come, every situation.
06:17 We're not going to get ahead of ourselves.
06:18 We're not going to get out over our skis.
06:22 Whether we're up 10 games in the division,
06:23 down 10 games in the division, this
06:26 is still going to go about our business exactly the same way
06:30 every single day.
06:32 And this man is about that life.
06:34 He is very much about that mentality.
06:37 And just getting the vote of confidence
06:40 from a guy like that, which he gave basically everyone
06:44 from day one, even all the way down
06:47 from the top end of the roster in Corey Seager,
06:49 Marcus Simeon, down to the bottom of the roster
06:51 in Travis Jankowski, who barely made the 26-man roster
06:55 on opening day, and then earned his way
06:57 staying there, playing a pivotal part of this team.
07:01 Getting that nod from that guy consistently day in, day out,
07:06 and seeing him believe in you, how could you
07:08 not believe in yourself?
07:09 I mean, if I had Bruce Bochy listen to my podcast,
07:12 he'd tell me, hey, I'm doing a great job.
07:13 If he'd listened to one episode and said that about me,
07:15 I'd be like, oh, Bruce Bochy knows what he's talking--
07:17 actually, I wouldn't say that about podcasting specifically,
07:19 because I don't know how many podcasts Bruce Bochy is
07:22 listening to.
07:23 But about baseball, about what makes a good baseball player,
07:26 what makes a good baseball team, Bruce Bochy is the expert.
07:31 Around the game, the guy delayed his Hall of Fame clock,
07:35 not that he cares one iota about that,
07:38 because he clearly doesn't, but he missed the game.
07:42 And for him to not only give that vote of confidence
07:46 to the players in spring training,
07:49 but just simply signing to be the Rangers' manager,
07:54 being sold by Chris Young on this team
07:58 before they had signed all of those pitchers that winter.
08:03 And I'm saying, yeah, it's been four years,
08:08 but I want to come back.
08:11 And I want to come back for this team,
08:14 because there's no way in heck that Chris Young was
08:16 the only person to ever approach Bruce Bochy about coming out
08:21 of retirement, about coming back to the game
08:24 and saying, hey, why don't you want
08:27 to give it another shot with this team?
08:30 And there were plenty of other teams
08:32 that had managerial openings over the years
08:35 that were possibly better spots.
08:38 I have to imagine that before the Padres got Bob Melvin,
08:45 I'm sure they at least kicked the tires on Bruce Bochy.
08:48 I mean, you have to.
08:49 You have to do your due diligence at that point.
08:52 Didn't work out with Bob Melvin and the Padres,
08:54 but I'm sure if Bochy was the one who they got,
08:58 maybe the Padres would have won a World Series.
09:02 But they didn't.
09:03 The Rangers got him, and the Rangers
09:06 helped Bruce Bochy get his fourth World Series ring.
09:10 And my God, having a manager like that in a sport
09:14 where the coaching is most difficult to quantify
09:16 its effect, it's not like college football or NFL
09:21 football or the NBA or the NHL or whatever other sport.
09:27 It is such a undefinable, indescribable kind of impact
09:31 that you get from a manager.
09:34 It felt very evident, very obvious from the get-go,
09:39 from the time that pitchers and catchers reported this time
09:42 last year, that Bruce Bochy's impact on this team
09:46 was absolutely substantial and a huge part of why
09:50 they were so much better last year than they were just
09:53 the year before.
09:55 Coming up, we'll look at more reasons why this team was
09:56 so much better and another part of Bruce Bochy's massive,
09:59 massive influence.
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24:08 Ronald Acuna Jr., I would say that Corey Ziegler was pretty comfortably the second best hitter in baseball for last year.
24:15 He was insane. He was so much better.
24:18 And because he had one kind of mediocre season in '22, where he still did hit a career-high 33 home runs and a 7.72 OPS, a 1.17 OPS plus,
24:32 that's not terrible.
24:34 And he was an All-Star that year, but everyone thought, "Oh, wow, I forgot that Corey Ziegler—" Actually, Corey Ziegler's just bad now.
24:41 He's just bad. Like he hadn't had a career OPS plus of 134 at that point.
24:48 They just forgot that Corey Ziegler's frickin' amazing.
24:51 And Corey Ziegler remembered, "Oh, I'm frickin' amazing." And then he was.
24:54 And that's kind of helpful, when you have a guy who was a fringe All-Star and goes to number two in MVP voting,
25:04 that'll help you win a few more games from year to year.
25:08 Granted, there were a few other guys who made massive improvements offensively.
25:12 I think mainly Adoles Garcia was the other guy, offensively, that had the most improvement.
25:18 Marcus Simeon's numbers overall aren't that crazy different, but the consistency of not having a horrendous first two months of the season kind of helped that just a little bit.
25:31 He had about a 100-ish point swing in his OPS, which if you look in the second half of what Marcus Simeon was doing, he was basically doing just Marcus Simeon things.
25:39 It just took a little while for him to get going, get comfortable in a new place.
25:42 But the rest of his lineup was pretty darn good as well.
25:45 But Corey Ziegler's improvements from '22 to '23, just absolutely insane part of how good—insane jump.
25:53 And something that I think, while he might not have a 1,013 OPS in a 6.9 war season in '24,
26:05 there's no reason to think Corey Ziegler is going to stop being amazing at hitting baseballs very hard and being the best shortstop in baseball anytime soon.
26:14 Now the number five reason why the Rangers improved so much from '22 to '23 is the youth movement.
26:21 Now it was mainly the improvement from these young guys, the depth of this team.
26:26 And part of the youth movement improvement was also having the prospects to go out at midseason and go get a Jordan Montgomery,
26:34 to go get a Rollis Chapman, to go get a Max Scherzer.
26:39 Having the depth of that farm and using it, and those guys having big seasons on the farm—Louis and Hella Cunha, specifically—
26:47 the way that he improved basically from '22 to '23, he was still having a solid season in '22, but really adding on that in '23,
26:57 which made it to the point where the Rangers could go get a Max Scherzer just for him alone,
27:02 and also get $30 million or so from the New York Mets to take their ace and future Hall of Famer and three-time Cy Young winner.
27:13 And also the improvements from T.K. Robey and from Thomas to J.C. to be able to be good enough to entice the St. Louis Cardinals to part with Jordan Montgomery,
27:23 the World Series champion, World Series hero, hopefully 2024 Texas Ranger.
27:28 But also the massive improvements from Leo DiTaveras from '22 to '23, and from Ezekiel Duran, who stepped up massively when Corey Singer went down due to injury.
27:42 And also Josh Young, all-star starting third baseman for the American League as a rookie, somehow finished fourth in AL Rookie of the Year voting.
27:52 And oh yeah, one last young guy who made a little bit of an impact, a guy named Evan Carter, who was absolutely sensational in his 23 regular season games
28:03 and his several postseason games where he hit third on a World Series champion Texas Rangers team as a freshly turned 21-year-old.
28:14 The youth movement of this team was absolutely massive. The impact of the little savior, Evan Carter, coming in and just giving this team a little bit of new life right when it felt like all hope was lost.
28:25 Not that he fixed everything with this team, not that he's the only reason why they found a second win in the postseason. It's definitely not the only reason.
28:34 I think all five of these things were big reasons why, once it got time to the playoffs, this team was able to shake off that dreadful end of the season, fly all the way over Arlington from Seattle to Tampa,
28:48 go undefeated in their first seven playoff games, win the AL, win the World Series, and have that massive, massive improvement.
28:57 All five of these different things played a big factor. And all five of these things are going to be still affecting this team in '24.
29:07 They're not things that are just going away. Granted, the rotation isn't quite as deep as in '23, until hopefully those reinforcements get back, depending on if Monte comes back or no.
29:20 But at this point, he is not, and I'm going to start to lean more towards it's not happening than it is. But Corey Seager is still going to be amazing.
29:29 This defense is only going to get better by adding Evan Carter every day in left field, and hopefully some more improvements defensively from Josh Young, which he's continued to improve defensively.
29:40 Maybe a little bit of improvement defensively from Lillie Tavares in center field, of just that level of consistency that we haven't quite seen.
29:47 We've seen him make the amazing play. We've seen him make the spectacular play. We've seen him rob a home run from Hurton Alvarez in the ALCS, which was freaking amazing.
29:56 But just a little bit more consistency in the easier plays of making those that can level this defense up even more.
30:04 And Bruce Bochy is still going to be here. And that winning team culture that it took a while for those big money veterans to kind of establish on this team and in this clubhouse,
30:14 it didn't just happen the second those guys signed up. "Oh, okay, we're going to start winning now.
30:19 We're going to turn around a team that's been mid to terrible since 2016, and we're just going to fix it overnight."
30:28 It takes time. It takes time for hitters to trust that new hitting coaching staff that was implemented back in 2022 in Donnie Ecker and Tim Hires.
30:40 It took a while for those guys to kind of, their changes of approach for some of these hitters that were a little more raw and unrefined, like Adoles Garcia, like Leo Guitavares,
30:52 like just getting the most out of these guys who were kind of on the fringes and also get the most out of their superstars.
31:00 I mean, I know Corey Seager does a lot of his own research, has his own hitting coach and a lot of work on his own.
31:07 But having that hitting coaching staff is, I'm not saying that they're 100% of the reason why Seager got so much better,
31:14 but they're definitely not a small part in it.
31:17 They definitely helped him out of making sure that those changes and those tweaks that he made from year over year stuck.
31:25 And this team is not going anywhere. This team is only getting better.
31:30 Hopefully they can have some more youth movement in a combination of Wyatt Langford or Justin Foscue or just the other young guys who are no longer rookies in Leotie and Josh Young can step forward.
31:44 I mean, we can see, I don't think we're going to have the same level of success that we're going to see from Evan Carter that he had in the final 20 games of the season and the postseason.
31:55 But he's still going to be a really darn good player, a really consistent player.
32:00 And this team is just, man, the sky is the limit for them.
32:03 They've already won a championship in year one of the window actually being open.
32:07 Actually year, like, negative one, because the window wasn't supposed to be open until this year.
32:12 They've already won a ring. They're playing with house money.
32:14 And the improvements from '22 to '23 are definitely here to stick, just like the World Series champion, Texas Rangers.
32:22 That's going to do it for today's show.
32:23 Thank you all so much for listening and subscribing.
32:25 And until next time, don't forget to enjoy World Series champion, Texas Rangers baseball.
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