#46-50 All-Time Rangers List

This week I will start a series of my top 50 Rangers players of all-time. I will do it in groups of five, starting at 46-50.

Also, this week I am continuing the poll for the second annual Texas Rangers Trades Broadcaster of the Year Award (on the left-hand sidebar). The winner will get an award, so please vote to make it more meaningful.

50. Kevin Mench: .274 AVG, 80 HR, 265 RBI
Kevin has the 32nd most at-bats in Rangers history, along with the 18th most home runs and the 23rd most RBI’s. That should be enough to get you at least the #50 spot in an all-time Rangers list. His batting average isn’t too bad either, as he is tied for 21st in that category. He struck out much more often than he walked, though as he struck out 273 times and walked only 147 times. He was not speedy either, as he was only 7-of-12 on attempted steals. Kevin did have a pretty good fielding percentage and was a better fielder than his reputation. Kevin was a streaky player who could hit for power, was pretty good in the field, and had a decent batting average, but who didn’t have much speed and struck out more than he should.

49. Roger Pavlik: .547 W%, 47-39, 4.58 ERA, 743 IP, 526 K
Roger is 13th in Rangers history in wins and has a very good win percentage. That should be enough to get you onto this list. His ERA was shaky though, as it is over 4.50. He has the 15th most innings pitched in Rangers history and the 12th most strikeouts in Rangers history. He had a good record with a fair amount of strikeouts but was not a shut-down pitcher and benefited greatly from excellent offensive support. Roger was an All-Star in 1996 and, despite his flaws, deserves to be on this list.

48. Frank Catalanotto: .290 AVG, 37 HR, 184 RBI
Frank Catalanotto is the 48th best player in Rangers history because he is 36th in RBI and 39th in home runs. Also, he is tied for 13th in Rangers batting average for players with at least 1250 at-bats and is 8th in OBP in Rangers history. Also, he is 19th in slugging percentage and 35th in walks with 145. He doesn’t strike out very often with only 184 strikeouts. 37th in at-bats, he has been with the club 5 years. He is speedy, used to hit for a high average, and does not have much power. He is good in the field. He is a solid player and deserves to be in the top 50 Rangers of all time.

47. Steve Buechele: .240 AVG, 94 HR, 338 RBI,
Steve is 16th in Rangers history in home runs, and 19th in RBI’s. But his batting average is only .240 and his OBP is only .308. He had plenty of power, but did not have a good batting average and was not particularly strong at defense. In my opinion, he is the 5th best 3rd baseman in Ranger history.

46. Ian Kinsler: .290 AVG, 52 HR, 187 RBI, 60 SB
Ian Kinsler is the 46th best player in Rangers history, in my opinion. He is 39th in Ranger history in at-bats, 28th in Rangers history in home runs, along with 36th in RBI and tied for 13th in batting average for Rangers players with at least 1250 at-bats. He’s also 10th in OBP for players with at least 1250 at-bats. He is already 16th in stolen bases in only his 3rd year. His fielding percentage is only .975 and he has 53 errors, though. He has only had one year when he has not hit 15 home runs and he hit 14 in that year. His OBP is .360 and his slugging percentage is .473 (10th in Rangers history). He has been in the majors for three years and is already towards the top of most of the important stats for a hitter. He is also speedy, stealing 60 bases out of 68 attempts (88.2%). He has speed with plenty of power and has a good batting average. He was an All-Star in 2008 and deserved to be one. I think Ian is the 4th best second baseman in Rangers history behind Julio Franco, Bump Wills, and Michael Young. He has an .832 OPS and definitely deserves to be in the top 50 all-time Rangers.

Come back next week for numbers 41-45 in the All-Time Rangers List.