The Rangers will be sending four position players and a pitcher to the All-Star Game in L.A. Lefty swinging outfielder Josh Hamilton and righty swinging DH Vladimir Guerrero were both voted in by the fans and they were good picks. Hamilton has played in 78 games for the Rangers this year and he is 106 of 313 (.339 avg, 1.001 OPS) with 55 runs scored, 20 homers, 61 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. This will be Hamilton’s 3rd appearance in the All-Star Game. Vladimir Guerrero has played in 77 games this year for the Rangers and he is 98 of 297 (.330 avg, .940 OPS) with 52 runs scored, 18 homers, 70 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. This is Guerrero’s 9th All-Star Game appearance in his outstanding career. 21-year old shortsop Elvis Andrus will be Derek Jeter’s backup in the All-Star Game. Andrus has played in 78 games for the Rangers this season and he is 88 of 305 (.289 avg, .699 OPS) with 55 runs scored, 0 homers, 25 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. This will be Andrus’ first All-Star Game. Ian Kinsler was added to the All-Star Team to replace the injured Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox. Kinsler has played in 58 games for the Rangers this season and he is 64 of 214 (.299 avg, .815 OPS) with 44 runs scored, 3 homers, 26 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. This is the second time Kinsler has made the All-Star Team. Fireballing reliever Neftali Feliz has made his first All-Star Team. He has pitched in 37 games (0 starts) for the Rangers this season and he is 1-2 with 22 saves, a 3.00 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. Feliz has only given up 24 hits while whiffing 40 batters in only 36 innings. This is a pretty good contingent of Rangers heading to the All-Star Game.

29-year old lefty swinging outfielder Josh Hamilton had a year to forget in 2009 for the Rangers. He played in 89 games for the Rangers last season in which he was 90 of 336 (.268 avg, .741 OPS) with 43 runs scored, 10 homers, 54 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. Hamilton has been on fire with the bat this season. He has played in 61 games for the Rangers this year and he is 75 of 243 (.309 avg, .934 OPS) with 42 runs scored, 15 homers, 46 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. The Rangers need Hamilton to stay healthy on the field and sober off of it as he had relapse last season which could have led to him having an off year.

35-year old righty swinging DH Vladimir Guerrero is flat killing the baseball this season for the Rangers. He has played in 41 games for the Rangers this season and he is 54 of 158 (.342 avg, .923 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 9 homers, 35 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Guerrero still swings at everything as he has only whiffed 16 times while walking 7 times. Guerrero is a oddity as a hitter because one would think that a hitter like him wouldn’t have a good batting average but he always has. You can bounce the ball up to the plate and Vlad can still whack it into the outfield which is something I have seen him do. He is flat my favorite batter in baseball to watch swing.

29-year old lefty swinging outfielder Josh Hamilton is looking like he’s getting back to the player he was a couple of years ago for the Rangers. He has played in 28 games for the Rangers this year and he is 32 of 108 (.296 avg, .909 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 5 homers and 17 RBIs. Hamilton really started stepping up when Nelson Cruz went down to injury. The Rangers hope that Hamilton keeps up the good work so the Rangers’ offense can continue hitting the ball better.

Many questioned whether the 35-year-old Vladimir Guerrero had anything left in the tank after he hit below .300 for the first time in his career and missed 62 games last season.  Well, so far in this young season Vlad looks like the Vlad from 5+ years ago.  He is 13/28 (.464 BA) in 7 games this season.  He also has 4 runs, 3 RBIs, and 1 homerun.  The Rangers need Guerrero to be productive this season if they want a chance at winning the AL West, and so far so good.  Obviously Guerrero won’t keep up at this pace, but it is definitely a great sign for the Rangers that he is producing right away this season.  The bigger question is whether or not he will stay healthy, since he has had a lot of injury problems over the past few seasons.  Still, it is good to see the free-swinging Vlad going strong early in the season.