Breaking down Ron Washington’s Texas Rangers lineup 2014

Sep 19, 2013; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Texas Rangers manager

(38) in the dugout against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Texas Rangers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 8-2. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Manager Ron Washington has set the Texas Rangers lineup this week at the spring training.  He did this before he even saw any of the position players take practice, but that shouldn’t be a concern.

• LF Shin-Soo Choo
• SS Elvis Andrus
• 1B Prince Fielder
• 3B Adrian Beltre
• RF Alex Rios
• DH Mitch Moreland
• C Geovany Soto
• 2B Jurickson Profar
• CF Leonys Martin

Washington commented on his lineup

“I’m set in stone with that,” Washington said. “It is locked in. I do not want to move Beltre out of the four hole. And Prince, he’s been the protector all his career. I want him to be the protectee. People can pick their poison. If they don’t want to deal with Prince, then they can deal with Beltre. If they don’t want to deal with Beltre, then they can deal with Rios. And if they don’t want to deal with any of them, they can deal with Moreland.”  (Dallas News-Evan Grant)

Here is a look at the Texas Rangers lineup 2014

Shin-Soo Choo

Dec 27, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers outfielder Shin-Soo Choo talks to the media after being introduced at a press conference at Texas Rangers Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Looking at the projected lineup, having Choo lead off makes perfect sense.  Choo has been at the front of the pack with his on-base percentage (4th last year with .4231 and 6th in 2010 with .400).  He had a career batting line of .288/.389/.465/.854, which is what you expect out of your lead off hitter.  It’s easy to see why the Rangers picked up Choo, he gets on base.

Shin-Soo Choo stats

Elvis Andrus

Sep 27, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler (5) is congratulated by manager Ron Washington (left), center fielder Leonys Martin (center) and shortstop Elvis Andrus (right) after scoring a run against the Los Angeles Angels during the seventh inning of a baseball game at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The Rangers won 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports

Leaving Elvis at the 2 spot makes sense.   Last year, Andrus, as well as several of the other Rangers did have issues making productive outs.  There were several situations where Ian was on base, and with Ian running, Andrus failed to make contact to avoid having Ian thrown out at second.  If you’ve been following spring training you will have noticed one of the work outs included situational hitting.  The goal is to recognize what’s going on and what is needed to advance the runner.  In my opinion, last year there were a lot of times where players would approach the plate with runners on base and felt the need to drive in a run.  Some times, you just need to advance the runner.

Elvis Andrus stats

Prince Fielder and Adrian Beltre

Sep 26, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre (29) hits an rbi single during the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Prince Fielder or Adrian Beltre, who do you put at 3 and 4?  Either way, if you are pitching to them do you care?  You probably don’t want to see either one of them!  Dare I say his name, but you now have what we lost when Josh Hamilton left.  Both Beltre and Prince have the power to set and change the tone of the game.  My guess is that when Prince heard about the trade, his eyes lite up knowing he’ll be able to slam that ball into the home run porch pretty often this season.  Also, having another power hitter does take some of the pressure off of Beltre, but I doubt that ever bothered him.

Prince Fielder stats

Adrian Beltre stats

Mitch Moreland

Sep 30, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland (18) hits a single against the Tampa Bay Rays during the fifth inning at Rangers Ballpark at Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Mitch Moreland, he’s the guy that has been kind of the center of attention this offseason.  And what I mean by that is, where will he play, will they trade him and how is he preparing  for the season.  Basically, he’s willing to do what ever is needed of him.  And he’s not worried about playing time and he shouldn’t be.  Washington has already said he’ll be out there playing.  He’ll get plenty of time at DH, maybe some in the outfield and some at first base.  Also, yes he did have a down year last year, but he spent some of last year injured.  He seems to be healthy and I expect him to have another year like he did in 2012.  He only batted .232 last year with 23, but when he was at 100% he batted .275 in 2012 with 15 home runs.  In my opinion, I think Mitch is one of those players that is poised to breakout.  He’s only 28 years old, and is entering his 5th year in the majors.  He now has the experience behind him to right himself to have a great season.  Also, he’s not a player the Texas Rangers should give up.  If you remember, people were saying the same things about Chris Davis when he was with the Rangers.  Look how that turned out.

Mitch Moreland Stats

Geovany Soto and Jurickson Profar

Sep 26, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers second baseman Jurickson Profar (13) hits a walk off home run during the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Geovany Soto and Jurickson Profar round out 7 and 8.  Soto doesn’t have the best bat, but not all catchers do, in fact not many do.  You have our catcher out there to call the game, to manage a game, to calm the pitcher down and for his abilities behind the plate.  Soto hold his own and have a good enough bat.  There were several games he drove in the winning run and help win one with walk off home run against the Angels.  Jurickson Profar didn’t have great year with his bat, but the kid is only 20.  He’s very able to play short stop and second base.  With another year under his belt and now playing full-time, I fully expect great thing on both sides of the ball this year.  Profar spent some time in the Dominican Winter League, which is like a high AAA, where played very well finishing the season with a .284 batting average with 4 home runs and 19 RBI.

Geovany Soto Stats

Jurickson Profar Stats

Leonys Martin

Sep 25, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers center fielder Leonys Martin (2) laughs after the victory over the Houston Astros at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

When the Texas Rangers traded for Prince Fielder, during the press conference, at that time Washington said that Leonys Martin would be the lead off hitter, which is still a good idea.  But having him in the 9 hole is still just as effective as having him as the lead off.  Martin also played in the Dominican Winter League, but didn’t play well.  It could have been due to some off-field issues, which I won’t go into.  I’ll stick to the baseball stuff.  Martin had a streak last year where he just gunning down runners that were on second trying to make it third base.  I expect him to continue to use, what people call the “Cuban Missile” to throw out base runners and to improve his batting average.

Leonys Martin Stats

As spring training continues on, Washington might change his Texas Rangers lineup a bit, but it does seem pretty solid  and to me pretty exciting to watch.  Not saying anything bad about the bottom 5, but it will be very fun to watch the top 4.