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2 struggling Angels players who need to step up vs. Rangers, 2 who need to stay hot

By Zachary Rotman |
Seattle Mariners v Los Angeles Angels
Seattle Mariners v Los Angeles Angels / Ronald Martinez/GettyImages
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The Los Angeles Angels just wrapped up an extremely successful homestand, winning five of the six games. The Halos swept the Cubs and took two of three from the Mariners to give them a record of 36-31 heading into an extremely tough series against the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers have been one of the best teams in baseball all season long. and currently sit at 41-23 which just so happens to be the second-best record in baseball. Texas leads all of baseball in runs scored, and despite a shaky bullpen, ranks fifth in team ERA despite Jacob deGrom missing substantial time.

The Rangers came to Anaheim earlier this season and took two of three. Each game the Angels lost came in routs. While a series win might not be the expectation, the Angels need to at least figure out a way to split the four-game set. Show that you can compete with elite teams after failing to do that against Houston.

In order for the Angels to have any sort of success against the powerful Rangers, three players will have to get out of slumps and two others will have to stay hot.

LA Angels outfielder Mike Trout has to step up vs. the Rangers

Mike Trout's June struggles have been well-documented to this point. He looks like a shell of his superstar self, and the Angels badly need him to get out of this funk. They've been fortunate to play against sub-.500 teams this past homestand, but Texas is a different beast.

Trout is going to get a day off in Texas which I believe he needs desperately, but for the other three games, he has to be their leader.

We saw Trout record one hit in 15 at-bats in the last four-game series the Angels played in Houston. We've seen Trout hit .114 in the month of June with a whole bunch of strikeouts. The time for him to step up is right now, against an elite opponent, at their stadium.

Find a way to come through in the clutch. Set the table for the team to score. Do something to remind us of the superstar we all know you to be.

LA Angels Designated Hitter Shohei Ohtani needs to stay hot vs. the Rangers

Shohei Ohtani was in the middle of a prolonged slump himself before breaking out in recent weeks. From May 16-29, Ohtani had just seven hits in 50 at-bats. He slashed .140/.218/.320 with three home runs and four RBI. Then Shohei and the Angels took a trip to Chicago, and Ohtani woke up from there.

Shohei launched three home runs in the final two games the Angels played at Guaranteed Rate Field and has been on fire ever since.

In his last 12 games Ohtani is slashing .388/.444/.878 with six home runs and 13 RBI. He takes an eight-game hitting streak into this series and has extra-base hits in six of those eight games.

Ohtani wasn't the only Angel to produce in this most recent homestand, but he was by far the best Angel. As the superstar he is, he should be the best player most of the time, and should especially be showing out against the good teams.

Like Trout, Ohtani didn't have the best series against the Astros, and also didn't play particularly well against Texas. Ohtani had just two hits in 12 at-bats when the Rangers visited Anaheim earlier this season, and the only RBI he had came in an eight-run loss.

Ohtani's bat has to stay hot for this team to score runs against a really good Rangers staff. The stars have to shine against the best, and that starts with Trout and Ohtani.

LA Angels infielder Anthony Rendon has to step up vs. the Rangers

It might be a bit unfair to put Anthony Rendon on here, but if he's playing, he needs to be productive. Rendon missed almost a month due to injury and came back this past homestand without a rehab assignment.

The rust showed from Rendon who had just one hit in 13 at-bats in the four games he played after returning. Rendon rested each of the final games of those two series, but Phil Nevin said he's expected to play all four games in Arlington. That means Rendon has to produce.

It's been a weird year for Rendon when he's been on the field. His .276 batting average is solid, and his .393 OBP is elite. The weird thing is Rendon, a guy who typically hit for a ton of power, has just one home run in 116 at-bats. Rendon is getting on base a ton, walking at a very high clip, and not striking out. He just isn't hitting for any power.

With Rendon in the cleanup spot the Angels should expect the power to eventually come back, but the reason he's there is because of his clutch hitting. Rendon is by far the clutchest Angel, and the team as a whole seems to click much more offensively when he's in the lineup.

Is it fair to expect Rendon to be the Rendon of old against a really good Rangers staff when he's clearly experiencing rust? Maybe not, but that's what has to happen. He doesn't have to hit home runs, but he has to come through in big spots.

He has one hit in four games since returning. If he has one hit in this four-game series, it's hard to envision the Angels having much success.

The LA Angels bullpen needs to stay hot vs. the Rangers

Is it cheating to use the entire bullpen? It might be, but it's too hard to pick one specific member of the bullpen to stay hot since they've all been so good.

In the month of June, the Angels bullpen leads the AL and is second in all of baseball with a 1.75 ERA. The back end of the bullpen has been a stength all season long thanks to Carlos Estevez and Matt Moore, but the Angels have figured out a solution to their middle relief and now have the makings of a really good bullpen.

The only relievers to allow runs this month are Chase Silseth (in the minors), Gerardo Reyes (in the minors), Ben Joyce (on the Injured List), Aaron Loup (low-leverage reliever), Jacob Webb (low-leverage reliever), and Carlos Estevez (got the save anyway). In other words, the Angels important relievers have been mostly dominant.

Chris Devenski, Sam Bachman, Jose Soriano, and Estevez have combined to allow a total of one run in 20 innings pitched. Even the lower-leverage arms of Loup, Webb, Tucker Davidson and Jimmy Herget have combined to allow two runs in ten innings of work.

This past homestand the bullpen combined to allow two runs in 23.1 innings of work. They're asked to pitch four innings virtually every night and have come through every time. Obviously, the goal is to not rely on them as much as the Angels have had to, but the bullpen does need to come through in what I expect to be close games against the Rangers.

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