As Nick Solak creeps toward pedestrian, should the Rangers keep him on the roster?

ARLINGTON – The Rangers have already made it clear once this year: There isn’t a ton of room on the roster for defensively-limited, platoon DHs.

The next question may be: Is there any?

The Rangers began May by sending left-handed hitting Willie Calhoun back to the minor leagues because he simply wasn’t producing satisfactorily over a long-enough sample size to justify a spot on the roster. The same issue is presenting itself on the right side of the plate with Nick Solak. He’s now got more career plate appearances than Calhoun. And, after an unproductive night against the Los Angeles Angels, he’s a sub-.700 career OPS.

“It’s almost like your time is always kind of running out,” manager Chris Woodward said before the game of Solak’s situation. “I like it when guys have that feeling. It’s like you can’t take anything for granted. That’s the attitude we want guys to have, but without panic.

“It’s just like: ‘Hey, I’ve go to get this done. It’s important. I’ve got to be right here, right now’,” Woodward added. “Got to have a good at-bat every time I get up.”

Solak was the DH against Los Angeles’ lefty Reid Detmers, coming off a no-hitter over Tampa bay, on Tuesday. In his three at-bats, he came up with a runner on base and made an unproductive out, twice striking out to end innings and hitting into a double play after consecutive walks to start the fourth. With the game on the line in the eighth, he was pulled for Jonah Heim.

The 0 for 3 night dropped his career slash line to a very pedestrian .253/.327/.372/.699.

Solak is a hitter and a hitter only. Being pedestrian is a very dangerous place for a mostly one-dimensional player to be. Solak runs better than Calhoun, but, is defensively limited and must damage baseballs. An excellent fielder and runner – someone like Eli White or prospect Leody Taveras, the April organizational player of the month – can still find ways to help a team win a game without significant offensive contributions. Calhoun and Solak have narrower paths to contributing. Calhoun has a .707 OPS in 927 career plate appearances.

“I think the bar has to be higher,” Woodward said. “And I think Nick would say the same thing. I don’t think he expects himself to be a .700 OPS guy. He’s got power. He’s got ability to get on base. He’s got the grind mentality. He’s he does a lot of things well. He could probably walk more. But I would expect more and I don’t think anybody expects more than Nick.”

The Rangers are going to face roster decisions in the coming days, too, just as they did when they had to trim the roster from 28 to 26, which led to demoting Calhoun to Triple-A Round Rock.

Catcher Mitch Garver, who is probably limited to DH due to a flexor muscle strain, is currently on a rehab assignment. Since he can’t catch, the Rangers will essentially have to carry three players whose natural position is catcher: Garver, Jonah Heim and Sam Huff. The Rangers are also going to have to trim one pitcher from the roster by the end of the month because they will only be allowed to keep a maximum of 13 pitchers and they currently have 14.

The point: Solak can’t be secure. The promise he showed back in 2019 after being acquired from Tampa Bay has eroded. Nowhere is that more clear than in his OPS decline. After his first major league game and three at-bats, he had a .667 OPS. Since then, it’s never been below .696. But he’s now approaching 1,000 plate appearances and he’s flirting with a new low.

There is danger in that.

Related:Little league style: Inside the park homer caps off Rangers comeback win over Angels Related:Once headliner of Yu Darvish trade, Willie Calhoun finds himself demoted, at career crossroads

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