Do Rangers Have Stealth All-Star Candidate?

Do the Texas Rangers have a stealth candidate for next month’s All-Star Game in Los Angeles?

MLB.com seems to think so.

The site named an under-the-radar selection for the All-Star Game, and a Rangers pitcher came up.

No, it wasn’t Martín Pérez, who is the staff’s ace and coming off a win on Monday night against Kansas City.

MLB.com’s selection was Rangers reliever Dennis Santana.

The selection is intriguing because the Rangers bullpen has emerged as a strength this season. Santana is a big piece of that.

Santana entered Tuesday’s action with a 3-3 record with one save and a 1.59 ERA. He’s allowed a .121 average against left-handed batters and a .179 average against right-handed batters.

He also has a team-high 12 holds, which is tied for seventh in the American League, and five of those have come in June.

Santana has been especially sharp in his last 19 games, during which he has an 0.93 ERA. Batters are also hitting .146 against him since he returned from the COVID-19 injured list on April 23.

While Santana certainly deserves consideration, he’s not the only reliever that could be chosen.

Joe Barlow has emerged as one of the American League’s better closers, as he carried 13 saves and a 3-1 record into the road trip. Matt Moore is 3-0 with one save and a 2.14 ERA. He’s emerged as the Rangers’ primary multi-inning option, and he recently surpassed 1,000 innings for his career.

Moore has retired 29 of the 37 hitters he’s faced in June, which includes eight games and 11 1/3 shutout innings, which has lowered his ERA from 3.22 to 2.14. He’s tied for seventh among AL relievers with 40 strikeouts.

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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