Inside The Rangers

Texas Rangers Produced Two Top-15 MVP Players in 2024, One Now Moving to Free Agency

The Texas Rangers had two players finish within the top-15 most valuable players when ranking by win probability added, one is now a free agent.
Dylan Sanders|
Sep 22, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers relief pitcher Kirby Yates (39) pitches against the Seattle Mariners during the ninth inning at Globe Life Field.
Sep 22, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers relief pitcher Kirby Yates (39) pitches against the Seattle Mariners during the ninth inning at Globe Life Field. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

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Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers did not have the follow-up campaign to a World Series win that anyone would want, but not everyone on the team struggled.

MLB data account BrooksGate shared a list showing the top 30 players in the league from last season based solely on Win Probably Added. Two Rangers players finished within the top 15, but one of them is now a free agent.

Finishing at No. 13 and second on team is not at all a surprising name to see on this list, shortstop Corey Seager who finished with a WPA of +3.98. That was down slightly from +4.42 a season ago and the second-highest of his career.

Since arriving in Texas back in 2022, Seager has done nothing but dominate. To be fair to him, though, he was doing that far before he was a member of the Rangers.

The best year of his career came in 2023 when he posted a .327/.390/.623 slash line with 33 home runs and 96 RBI.

He found less success this past campaign, but was still one of the best players on the team and obviously in the league.

The teammate that finished above him was relief pitcher Kirby Yates, who had a WPA of +4.43. He was actually the best pitcher in all of baseball, according to this metric. Even AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal finished right below him at +4.29.

Yates posted an incredible 1.17 ERA over 61.2 innings of work and 33 saves. He has proven to be capable of this kind of season before, but few expected him to pull it off at 37 years old. It was his second career All-Star campaign.

Despite needing so much help in the bullpen and having him perform at such a high level, the Rangers have not signed him back in free agency. Instead, they have either traded for or signed five new relief pitchers.

His age is likely the most limiting factor, but he has proven that he can still perform. He should be able to find a new home before the year starts.

Unfortunately for Texas, the same graph also showed the bottom 30 players in MLB for the same stat and they also had two players show up: outfielder Leody Taveras at -2.15 and rookie pitcher Jack Leiter at -2.09. Neither were in the bottom 20, however.

As the new season approaches, the Rangers will hope to have ever more representatives next time around. The New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks both tied for the most representatives with three a piece.

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Dylan Sanders
DYLAN SANDERS

Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders

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