Carlos Peguero is making a pretty solid case for himself to remain on the roster even after Ryan Rua returns from the disabled list in about a month.
Peguero was called up after Rua left Friday's game with what ended up being a heel fracture, and since his arrival he's been playing very well and has been an on-base machine even though he's yet to homer. The long ball was seen to be his biggest asset as he clubbed 30 homers last year at Triple-A Omaha in the Royals' system.
Peguero went 1-for-2 on Tuesday night with a walk and a run and was also hit by a pitch, giving him a .750 on-base percentage on the night and upping his season OBP to .588 through his four games played. In those four games, Peguero has hit .417 and has made it difficult for Jeff Banister to even considering sitting him right now.
The knock on Peguero has been his defense, or lack thereof, as he's a known commodity at the plate, but on Tuesday night he even had a stellar play in left field to track down a long fly out from Mike Trout that had him crashing into the wall to come up with the catch and end the inning with runners on base.
Peguero, an imposing 6-5, 260-pounder, has three doubles, but he's figuring out ways to get on base, and he's doing it quite often. It's an extremely small sample size, and his track record suggests he'll regress soon, but maybe, at age 28, he's a late bloomer in the mold of Nelson Cruz, and if that's the case, the Rangers have struck gold.
