ARLINGTON, Texas — For more than a year, one particular slugger has drawn the ire of Texas Rangers fans. Now, there’s no escaping his renaissance.

Not that Joc Pederson has any real answers when it comes to why he’s finally producing like the slugger the Rangers signed to a two-year deal worth nearly $40 million in 2024.

“I think it’s who I am,” Pederson said after Friday’s win over Kansas City, a game in which he homered. “I’ve done this for a long time. I just kind of do it. If I knew [why], then I wouldn’t have sucked all last year.”

Entering Sunday’s game his slash is .243/.351/.450 with eight home runs and 18 RBI. He also has an .801 OPS, his best in his two years with Texas. He may know be able to fully articulate why he’s hitting so well, but there is a potential answer.

Why Joc Pederson is Surging

5 homers in 5 games for @yungjoc650. #AllForTX pic.twitter.com/UYa4NHg7xP

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) May 30, 2026

Pederson has always had the reputation of being a professional hitter. It’s why the Rangers committed to him. He was coming off a .275/.393/.515 slash in 2024 with 23 home runs and 64 RBI with Arizona. But last season was awful. He missed three months due to a fractured thumb. When he played, he slashed .181/.285/.328 with nine home runs and 26 RBI in 96 games.

If Texas wanted to get rid of him, it couldn’t. He had a contract option and smartly exercised it.

He’s showed flashes of his former self earlier this season. At one point in April, he was batting .244. But by May 5 he was hitting .200 again. He was getting on base and drawing walks, two areas the Rangers have put more emphasis on. Rangers manager Skip Schumaker has talked about Pederson’s command of the strike zone. It hasn’t always been there with Texas.

For the bulk of his time with Texas, he’s been treated as a slugger and batted clean-up or below. But, on May 12 against Arizona, Schumaker tried something. He batted Pederson leadoff. He’s batted there before, but never as a Ranger.

Entering that game, he was slashing .225/.339/.326. Entering Sunday’s game his batting average is nearly 24 points higher, and he’s hit six of his eight home runs. The move has pushed his average to .261 for May.

“Maybe getting him that extra at-bat, leading off against a right-hander, has also been big,” Schumaker said. “I think back to the beginning of the season, and he was getting two at-bats at a time. It’s tough to get into rhythm in the five or six hole. Him being the leadoff spot provided him that extra at-bat and maybe that’s gotten him more in a rhythm.”

He hit a home run in Friday’s blowout win of Kansas City, an excuse-me shot that snuck around the right field foul between the bleachers and the wall. Saturday’s home run was much more consequential, part of a three-run seventh inning that won the game.

The Rangers need the Pederson of 2024 if they hope to climb the standings and take the AL West lead. As May prepares to give way to June, it feels like it’s finally happening — not that believes he or Texas have fully turned it around.

“I think we’re far away from flipping a switch,” he said. “I think it was a good night. I think we need to continue to build on it.”