Alejandro Osuna’s brilliant 2025 spring training for the Texas Rangers didn’t get the follow-up he wanted.
The 2026 season was a much different story.
Osuna didn’t start the regular season with the Rangers but that’s where he ended it, with a much different slash line than his 2025 ended with.
After slashing just .212/.313/.278 with two home runs and 15 RBI in 151 at-bats, that slash perked up to .260/.349/.304 with a home run and 25 RBI.
He still doesn’t have enough at-bats to qualify for leaders in 2026 but there are solid underlying numbers that show he must be a piece of the puzzle in 2027.
Alejandro Osuna’s Improved 2026
While he doesn’t have the at-bats to have a full set of MLB percentile rankings on his Statcast page, two analytics stand out as something the Rangers want more of — his whiff rate and his chase rate.
His whiff rate was 17.5%, and his strikeout rate was 15.9%, both of which would have put him among the top 80 percent in baseball if he had the at-bats.
That’s backed up by the traditional numbers, too. He struck out 37 times in 204 at-bats. He showed great discipline at the plate and was a great matchup against left-handed pitching.
The left-handed hitter slashed .311/.367/.311 against left-handed pitching and .245/.344/.302 against right-handed pitching.
As the Rangers move toward being a team built around on-base percentage, Osuna is the right kind of outfielder for Texas. While he doesn’t have the power of any of the other outfielders that ended the season on the 26-man roster, his ability to get on-base against pitchers from both sides of the mound is creeping into elite status.
The only player with a better on-base percentage for the Rangers, regardless of whether they were qualified hitters or not, was third baseman Josh Jung (.365).
The question for the Rangers is where to fit Osuna into the lineup? He can play all three outfield positions. But with Wyatt Langford and Brandon Nimmo entrenched in two of those spots, the natural opportunity to compete is between Osuna and Evan Carter in center field.
Texas could move Wyatt Langford to center field and allow Osuna and Carter to duke it out to play left field. Both can play the position, and Osuna is more of a natural corner outfielder than a center fielder.
Whatever path the Rangers go down in 2027, Osuna must be a part of it. He’s proven he’s the right fit for the future.
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