If Julio Borbon and Justin Smoak continue to ride these hot streaks into the middle of the summer, the Texas Rangers are going to be a difficult lineup to overmatch.
Earlier in the season, it seemed opposing pitchers had the luxury of pitching around some of the guys before Smoak and Borbon (read Vlad Guerrero, Nelson Cruz). After the first month of the season, Borbon was hitting just .193. The emergence of Elvis Andrus allowed manager Ron Washington to bump Borbon down to ninth in the lineup. To Washington's credit, he still played the 24-year-old every day.
It's finally paying off.
Borbon is hitting .276 after a 3-for-3 showing in the Rangers' 12-3 rout of Seattle on Thursday night in Arlington. His bat coming around is a welcome sign for an offense that has scored 31 runs in its last three games.
Smoak is starting to heat up as well. The guy's hitting .438 in his past 10 games and getting on base like a mad man. The guy's already second on the team with 26 walks and his call-up to the big leagues wasn't until April 23. His .222 batting average should only continue to rise. The fact that his on-base percentage is already around .340 is impressive. Washington moved him to sixth in the lineup on Thursday.
If these two guys continue to produce at a rate close to what they're showing now, I like our chances going forward, particularly since Nelson Cruz, arguably our best hitter, is on the disabled list. When Cruz comes back, the lineup should only get more potent.
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