This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ARLINGTON -- Rangers manager Skip Schumaker called Ezequiel Duran into his office on Sunday morning, much to the surprise of Texas' utilityman.
Nothing was wrong, though. Schumaker just presented Duran with a customized shirt featuring a collage of his face. Above pictures of Duran -- with a smoke effect -- read “THE SOLUTION” in big, bold, blinged-out letters.
So where did “The Solution” come from?
“Last year in the Dominican for Winter Ball, I was playing too many positions in one game,” Duran said. “I started at short, then the next inning at third, next inning in the outfield. One of my teammates, he just said, ‘You are the solution. They say you can play everywhere.’ I just forgot about it. When I got here [for the regular season], I was getting practice at catcher. So I said, ‘OK, I’m the solution.’”
As far as solutions go, Duran has definitely been one of the Rangers’ superutility stars.
He has played 56 games so far this season, including 18 at shortstop, 18 at second base, seven in left field, six at third base and one in right field. In his five-year big league career, he’s appeared at every position except catcher -- though Schumaker has admitted that Duran is the de facto emergency catcher if it ever comes down to that.
Duran even has a 0.00 ERA in four pitching appearances (3 1/3 innings).
“[The Solution] is his nickname to himself,” Schumaker said with a laugh. “Nobody gave him that nickname, he gave himself that nickname. He was trying to convince me that he was the solution early on in the year, and it kind of carried over to everybody calling him the solution. I love it. That's what I've talked about before. Sometimes you need to be a delusional type of player.”
Schumaker doesn’t mean delusional in a bad way. But sometimes the best players are the ones that have an almost unfathomable confidence in themselves and their abilities.
“That's what you want,” Schumaker continued. “I want him to feel like he is somebody else when he gets on the field. We've talked about that from a number of, from a number of players. I mean, I played with Ryan Theriot, who called himself ‘The Pulse.’ He said he was the pulse of the clubhouse. Nobody believed that, but he believed that. You have to have that crazy belief that you are the best out there every single day. And Zeke does that. Whether he wants to call himself the solution or not, it's up to him. But I actually like it. It’s amazing.”
And you know what, Duran has been the solution.
With Corey Seager, Wyatt Langford and Josh Smith each sidelined for weeks, Duran has held down the shortstop position with quality offensive production. With Seager back, he’s become the primary second baseman.
Among players on the AL All-Star Ballot at second base, Duran ranks: first in RBIs (32), second in all three slash categories (.276/.335/.441) and second in OPS (.776).
He was selected as the Rangers May Player of Month after hitting .288/.333/.481 with three home runs, seven doubles and two triples in 28 games. He also collected a team-high 23 RBIs and 12 extra-base hits.
“He has been the solution,” Schumaker said with a smile. “He actually has been the solution in many, many ways.”