VIDEO: Rangers’ Prospects Slugging Way Through Spring

VIDEO: Rangers’ Prospects Slugging Way Through Spring

Originally published on The Armchair All Americans in March 2016.

With roughly two weeks remaining of 2016 Spring Training, the Texas Rangers farm system is showing they earned the number seven spot in Baseball America’s organization rankings.

Few organizations have had as consistently great management as Texas; the team is always anticipating the arrival of at least one high-profile prospect. Their top three prospects, 22-year-old infielder Joey Gallo, 21-year-old outfielder Lewis Brinson, and 20-year-old outfielder Nomar Mazara, respectively.

They are all having phenomenal springs. Gallo is batting .333 with three homers, Brinson is batting .353 with one homer, and Mazara is batting .379 with a home run. Collectively, the trio is batting .357 in 70 at-bats. With that in mind, here is each player’s highlight of spring training (so far).

Top-Prospect Joey Gallo absolutely demolished a homer into the parking lot of Temple Diablo Stadium in a March 13th game against the Angels.

Outfielder Lewis Brinson hit a walk-off home run just a couple days ago, in a high-profile game at the Alamodome against defending World Series champions, the Kansas City Royals.

Nomar Mazara starting spring training with an absolutely beautiful homer on March second. I covered this just a couple weeks ago, but here it is again. Unfortunately, Mazara left yesterday’s game after fouling a ball off of his foot. He is listed as day-to-day.

For more analysis of the Texas Rangers, follow the author @justjustin42 on Twitter.

All stats provided by Baseball-Reference.com.  Featured Image Credit: (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)

Top 10 Crying Jordan Memes

Top 10 Crying Jordan Memes

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In the past year, the meme known as “Crying Jordan” has swept the internet. Taking over the relatively small demographic of sports fans who are also social media lovers, the Crying Jordan has grown rapidly in popularity. The meme uses this image of Michael Jordan, taken at his Hall of Fame induction:

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AP

Then it is photoshopped over the face of a sad person, typically after a devastating sports loss, a joke at the expense of the “loser”. This weekend a new meme featuring Jordan’s crying face over both Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey went viral, after McGregor’s loss Saturday night and Ronda Rousey’s loss last November. In honor of this post, here is the definitive ranking of the top 10 Crying Jordan memes.

10. Cryin’ Fitzpatrick

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Credit: barstoolsports.com

9. Crying Megatron

8. Crying Tom

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Twitter: User @clutchlikeromo

7. Crying LeBatman

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Twitter: User @highkin

Note: See LeBron’s recent Instagram post for clarification

6. Crying Vikings

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Twitter: User @whoisjoserivera

5. Crying Kanye

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Twitter: User @writerfrombklyn

A parody of the cover of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and Kanye’s bank account. 

4. Crying Panther

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Twitter: User @world_wide_wob

3. Crying Apple

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Twitter: User @TheScore

Note: Typically a Home Run Apple.

2. Crying Champions

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Twitter: User @boneystarks

1. Crying Fans

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Twitter: User @nick_pants

Easy to miss the subtlety in this one. In the midst of Steph Curry’s logic defying shot to beat Oklahoma City last week, notable Twitter photoshopper @nick_pants saw an opportunity. He placed a Crying Jordan on the face of every fan in the audience doing the “surrender cobra,” placing both hands on the back of their head in anguish. The result is an image worth zooming in and attempting to count.

And this Honorable Mention would definitely have made it on the list, but is not technically a Crying Jordan meme. In a reverse, twitter ‘shopper @whoisjoserivera placed Leonardo DiCaprio’s face on a dunking Jordan, celebrating his recent Academy Award.

HM. Dunking Leo

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Twitter: User @whoisjoserivera

So what do you think? Did I miss any Crying Jordan memes you love? Please let us know and leave them in the comments!

 

Rangers Rookie Nomar Mazara Shines in First Two Weeks

Rangers Rookie Nomar Mazara Shines in First Two Weeks

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On Sunday, some were recuperating from Beyoncé’s absolute dominance of the internet or watching to see if [SPOILER] actually [SPOILER]’d at the end of last season, but Rangers’ rookie outfielder Nomar Mazara continued to show his proficiency at a big-league-level.

The Texas Rangers officially called up Nomar Mazara to replace Shin-Soo Choo just recently on April 10. After a fantastic spring, many Rangers fans hoped he would make the team outright, but the team decided to give the 20-year-old another year to mature with the game. But in the end he became a major leaguer anyways, and has earned the title.

In only 12 games, Mazara (affectionately called “Maz,” by a fanbase which has a history of loving nicknames) has wildly impressed the Rangers. The expectations of Mazara were a strong offensive set, but disappointing defensive output. He proved the offensive expectations dead-on, with a pair of homers and a slash of .356/.404/.533. Here is video of yesterday’s massive 418 foot bomb, which came off of the bat at 110 MPH according to Evan Grant of the DMN:

The most impressive aspect of Mazara’s game up to this point has been the unexpectedly high level of defense he has played. With quite a few great plays and little to no errors, Mazara simply plays smart baseball (something which cannot always be said about starting center fielder Delino DeShields). And when the Rangers faced a tough situation against the White Sox in the bottom of the ninth inning, Maz was not prepared to lose:

Jared Sandler, reporter for 105.3 The Fan, claims that if Mazara continues to play at this rate, he will stay even when Choo and/or Hamilton return from injury.

In only two weeks of play, Nomar Mazara has caused a great stir among Rangers fans not just about the present but the future. With great hope not just for this year but the ones to come, Texas will look to Mazara as a key component

All stats from espn.com. Featured Image Credit: Twitter/@Rangers

For more Rangers info and opinions (and possibly Game of Thrones spoilers and the odd Beyoncé tweet), follow the author on twitter @justjustin42.