Rangers... on the run? Baserunning prioritized early for Texas

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landy’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- When Rangers catcher Jonah Heim stole a base on Sunday at Globe Life Field, everybody was a little shocked.

“Oh my gosh, that was so random,” utilityman Josh Smith joked post-game Sunday. “I didn't know what he was doing, but he got a good jump, so good for him. That was a really heads-up play.”

That day, the Rangers notched four stolen bases in the 4-3 walk-off win over the Rays, marking the highest total of the season and the club’s most since June 9, 2024, against the Giants (also four). Heim’s steal brought their season total to 14.

Since then, Heim stole another base in the second inning of the Rangers’ 10-6 loss to the Cubs Tuesday. It’s become clear that being aggressive on the basepaths was a point of emphasis for the club coming into 2025.

“Anytime you can steal 90 feet is going to be huge,” Heim said. “We've been doing a tremendous job on the basepaths early in the year. That's been a big emphasis coming in the year, just taking the extra 90 feet, putting pressure on defenses. If we can do that, we're gonna be pretty good.”

First base coach Corey Ragsdale has been a huge part of that change in approach on the bases. Outfielder Wyatt Langford said when they looked at the metrics in Spring Training, the Rangers were too low in most baserunning metrics.

They’ve set out to remedy that early this season, and when the offense is slumping like it is this week, it’s the perfect time to push those boundaries to get an extra 90 feet.

“We don't think that's going to be us every day,” Ragsdale said after the four stolen bases against the Rays. “We're going to swing bats a lot, and we're not always going to take as many chances. Right now, we're at the point where we're going to try to maximize every opportunity we can get. They have done a great job of kind of taking that and running with it. We said we want them to be more aggressive, and kind of push the envelope a little bit, and they have done a great job.”

Heim obviously isn’t going to steal 30 bases a year, though he is now 10-for-12 in his career on stolen-base attempts. But Ragsdale wants guys like Smith, Langford, Leody Taveras and even Adolis García to be ready to go whenever the opportunity presents itself.

“We want them to take advantage,” Ragsdale said. “We want to be ready when they give us an opportunity. We're going to be ready to do so, but there's also going to be times where it's not advantageous for us to push the envelope. We'll be ready for those situations too, but when we do have things we can take advantage of, we want to be ready to do that.”

The Rangers enter play Wednesday tied for second in the American League lead in stolen bases, alongside the Red Sox and the Rays, and behind the league-leading Mariners (19).

“Baserunning, to me, can be part of your identity,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It does a lot for the team to find different ways to score runs. You look at our team, and you think of slugs, but this is a team that can manufacture runs by running the bases well too. We're trying to take advantage of slow times, and, of course, trying to put pressure on the other team.