I’ll try to avoid more innuendo
Jurickson Profar has been fine since he came back. A 105 wRC+ against his 110ish expectations isn’t too bad, and especially coming back from suspension and facing pitchers who are basically literally in mid-season form, he’s acclimated fairly well. His walk and strikeout rates are a little worse than he usually does, but the power has been in line with what he did last year. All of that makes sense. But the Statcast is rough …
He makes a lot of contact, but it’s definitely worse than last year.
You’ll also note the really poor defense that we expected has remained. All of that has added up to being almost exactly replacement level. But in terms of hope …
On the flip side, I saw J. Smith in the lineup, and I was like, “Who the $%&* is that?” (I have not been able to watch any games this weekend due to trying to look for a new house) Turns out that it is Josh Smith, and after I saw that, I realized that I did know who that was. But in repayment for not realizing immediately, I figured I’d talk a little about him. He’s a utility infielder that was drafted originally all the way in the 38th round of the 2016 draft, but he went to LSU and ended up selected in 2nd round by the Yankees. He got traded to the Rangers as part of the exchange for Joey Gallo and Joely Rodriguez, and he’s been … pretty good against righties. He’s not much of an actual defender, but he hits enough (112 and 115 wRC+) to be a legit strong side of a platoon.