Through nine rocky seasons in the Texas Rangers’ organization, Jurickson Profar never could move beyond the status of tantalizing prospect. Whether due to injuries or a backlog at his favored positions, Profar could never find a home with the Rangers.
He finally was dealt to the Oakland A’s last December.
On Friday night, he made his return to Arlington and stung his former team with a pair of hits, an RBI and a run to help surging Oakland take the first game of a three-game series, 8-6.
Profar will try to keep it going Saturday when the A’s and Rangers meet for Game 2.
The two hits were another positive sign for the A’s that the second baseman is breaking out of an early slump that saw his average drop to .106 a week ago. He’s still hitting just .197 following a breakout series in Baltimore and Friday’s encouraging performance.
“Whenever you play against your former team, there’s always a little something there,” A’s manager Bob Melvin told reporters prior to the start of the series. “He has a lot of friends on the other side.”
What finally got Profar’s bat going?
The Rangers might not want to hear it, but it just might have been a conversation with former Texas third baseman Adrian Beltre, who retired after last season. Beltre was a mentor to Profar in Texas, and the two kept in close contact following the trade.
Profar called Beltre last weekend to wish him a happy birthday, according to the Oakland Tribune, and the conversation turned to baseball. In the last four games prior to playing against his former teammates, Profar went 6-for-15 with two home runs and eight RBIs. Two more hits Friday took him to 8-for-19, a .421 batting average.
“I asked him about how he handled himself when he went to a new team. I asked him about my swing, everything,” Profar told the Tribune of his chat with Beltre. “He just gave me confidence. He told me he knows I’m going to do good, just relax and do my thing.”
On Saturday, he will look to do his thing against Rangers righty Adrian Sampson (0-1, 1.86 ERA). Though he made his major league debut in 2016, Sampson has only eight appearances and five starts in his career. His start Saturday will be his first of the season after two solid relief outings.
In his one appearance against Oakland, on Sept. 7, 2018, Sampson have up three runs (two earned) on four hits in only one-third of an inning — good for an ERA of 54.00 against the A’s. He has also yet to get a win as a major-leaguer. He has never faced Profar in his career.
Oakland will send right-hander Marco Estrada to the mound to counter Sampson. In four starts this season, Estrada is 0-1 with a 4.87 ERA. In seven career games — all starts — against the Rangers, Estrada is 3-1 with a 3.40 ERA.
The Rangers’ Logan Forsythe is 8-for-17 with a homer in his career against Estrada.
