The Road Trip Performance the Rangers Should Be Quietly Celebrating

The trade of Marcus Semien left the Texas Rangers with a big hole at second base. Entering spring training it seemed like every middle infielder aside from Corey Seager was competing for the job.

Josh Smith nailed it down with a terrific offensive spring. In truth, he’s the player Texas likely wanted to win the job. But it did leave the Rangers with an issue — who would be their super-utility player, a role Smith filled for two years and won an AL Silver Slugger for in 2024?

It ended up being Ezequiel Duran. He was in the same boat as Smith going into the 2023 season — a young prospect with no position. He did what Smith was asked to do and became a utility player. Smith proved better at the on-and-off nature of the job. Duran struggled with it.

After six games — which is still a small sample size — the Rangers must be pleased with how Duran performed on this road trip.

Ezequiel Duran’s Quietly Effective Road Trip

Unleash the Duranimal. #AllForTX pic.twitter.com/qjV9nL1yi6
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) March 31, 2026

The worry about Duran has been that his bat responds when he has a set position and an everyday spot in the order but it fails to produce consistently otherwise. When he replaced Corey Seager at shortstop in 2023 due to injury. He slashed .309/.349/.593 with six home runs and 15 RBI in May. When injuries rocked the middle infield last year, he slashed .282/.306/.350 in the final two months. Before that, with limited playing time and no set position he slashed .148/.216/.216.

Cameron Cauley pushed him in spring training. So did Tyler Wade. But Duran won the job. Now he must keep it, knowing that unless an injury happens, he won’t play every day.

The road trip was encouraging. He started in three games and pinch-hit in another. He played two games at second base and one game at third base. He left Baltimore with a slash of .273/.273/.636 with a home run and three RBI.

The home run, which was on Tuesday when he started at third base, was notable because it was his first regular-season home run since Sept. 8, 2024. It snapped a streak of 258 at-bats without a home run, which at the time was the fifth longest in the Majors.

Duran’s ability to play around the diamond isn’t in question. Since he took on the role of being more than just a middle infielder in 2023, he’s played every position except catcher. Yes, he’s pitched 3.1 shutout innings in mop-up duty. It’s the bat that has held him back. It’s the bat that has given players like Cody Freeman and Cauley openings.

So far, Duran’s bat has shown enough life to give the Rangers reason to quietly hope the young player has figured out how to do more with less playing time.