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Texas Rangers Spring Training Thoughts

By Heath Criswell |

Mar 14, 2015; Peoria, AZ, USA; A Texas Rangers cap sits in the dugout against the San Diego Padres at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Spring Training has been going on for a couple of weeks. We have had some devastating news but we also have some things to be excited about. That is what I am going to focus on here.

I thought I would give a rundown on the exciting things happening and what to look out for.

The Bats:

Prince Fielder has had a decent spring. He has hit .294, 1 HR, 6 RBI . I am excited about that home run. I know, I know it’s not the regular season and these stats do not count but this is a reason to be excited. Remember in 150 at bats he only hit 3 home runs last year before going on the DL. Take a look at the article by Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News if you haven’t already. As you can see Prince is feeling as good as he has in a while and is having fun again. That is good news!

Joey Gallo, the Texas Rangers top prospect, has had a good spring showing so far, hitting .316, 2 HR , 5 RBI , 3BB and 3 SO. I really want to see him on the Opening Day roster. Good thing I’m not the GM. Let’s keep in mind though that he should and probably will start the season in the minor leagues.  He needs to get as many at-bats as he can get and those are not available for him in the majors right now.

We now know that Leonys Martin is the leadoff man. Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister confirmed. He has a .208 AVG, 1 HR and 2 RBI up to this point.

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5th Spot for the Rotation:

This is where it gets real exciting for me! The Rangers have quite the competition going here. Be sure to read Lisa’s article for info on the top candidates and vote for who you think will make the rotation.

In other starting pitching news, Derek Holland threw a scoreless inning in Saturday’s B game. He threw 12 pitches in one inning and is ready to go. He may be starting the home opener this year.

Left Field:

The competition is still going on with no clear player winning the spot up to this point. Keep an eye out the next couple of weeks to see who steps up. I am personally excited about Delino DeShields. His speed is quite impressive from what I hear. His batting avg is pretty low right now at .176 with 1 rbi. Those number’s simply will not get him a roster stop. I’m hoping that he gets healthy and that he can start to get some quality at bats and win a roster spot.

Jake Smolinski is having a great spring so far hitting .368 with 1 HR and 3 RBI. He seemed to come out of nowhere last year to be brought up so he could easily win it with numbers like these.

Ryan Rua is hitting .217 with 3 RBI. I’m sure he will be seeing more at bats.

Michael Choice in my opinion, is almost out of the competition with and avg of .071 and 1 RBI.

There is also Nate Schierholtz with and .375 avg and 2 RBI.

Ryan Ludwick hitting .214, 1 HR and 2 RBI.

There are plenty of spring training games left so anyone can still claim the job. Alot of people thought Rua would win the job or there will simply be a platoon. I’m eager to see who wins the 5th starting spot and the left field spot as well. The season will start before we know we know it. Who do you think will win the Left Field job?

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