Texas Rangers: Top Headlines Entering Spring Training

Who is the Ace of Staff?

It’s ideal for a team to have an obvious ace, or at least a front-runner. However, the Rangers have neither. If anything, the ace vacancy will incentivize the starting pitchers who are in the running for the title.

The race will likely come down to Lance Lynn and Mike Minor. Both are coming off full seasons, which is more than can be said for other starters like Drew Smyly, Edinson Volquez and Shelby Miller.

Lynn went 10-10 with a 4.77 ERA in 2018. He threw 156.2 innings and struck out 161 hitters. It wasn’t his best year, though he did finish strong, allowing just five earned runs over his final four appearances as a member of the Yankees.

Minor was the Rangers’ most consistent starter last season. He led all starters in starts, innings pitched, ERA and strikeouts. By all accounts, he was the team’s ace in 2018, though he didn’t have much competition. He does have competition this year.

Being named the opening day starter is an honor, but it doesn’t carry as much weight as it once did. Certain teams, the ones which don’t have a defined ace, determine their opening day starter based on scheduled days off carried over from spring training. You may remember Tanner Scheppers being the Rangers’ opening day starter in 2014 — that did not mean he was the team’s ace.

“Ace” is just a title. For Texas Rangers starting pitchers, the title will be earned as the season progresses. I like Mike Minor starting on opening day. From there, we’ll see who pitches like an ace, or at least closest to it.

Who fills out the rotation?

Lynn and Minor are in the rotation, but the remaining three slots are uncertain. The Rangers would like to form a veteran staff to allow Yohander Mendez and Ariel Jurado additional time to develop in the minor leagues. Of course, that would mean Smyly, Miller and Volquez would have to be healthy and capable.

Tommy John surgery intervened with all three, causing Smyly to miss the last two seasons and Miller and Volquez to miss 2018. Though, each arm is said to be on track for the start of the regular season.

The Rangers have options, which is great. They have fallbacks in case of injury and a deep bullpen to give the rotation flexibility. A six-man rotation could be in play, as could the “opener” strategy. Filling the rotation will be one of Chris Woodward‘s greatest tests in his inaugural season as the Texas manager.

Every starting pitching candidate will be an intriguing watch this spring.

What must Willie Calhoun do to break camp with the Rangers?

Calhoun will have to have an outstanding spring in order to make the team. The odds are against him. He can only play the corner outfield positions, and those are just about guaranteed to Joey Gallo and Nomar Mazara.

If Calhoun were to show up to spring in shape, play a solid outfield and smash the baseball, the organization would have no choice but to assign him to the major league squad. And they’ll only do so if the 24-year-old is expected to play close to everyday.

Gallo would move to center to allow Calhoun to play left. The Rangers aren’t against Gallo playing center field; however, it would take a great spring from Calhoun and a bad spring from Delino DeShields to fully persuade the front office and coaching staff.

All of this is contingent on Willie Calhoun impressing throughout spring training. If he does not, he’ll be headed to Triple-A and placed on the waiting list for an outfielder or DH to hit the DL.

Who will be the Texas Rangers’ setup man?

The closer role is set in stone, but what about the setup role. A number of candidates are in play, including Chris Martin, Jesse Chavez and Shawn Kelley. Really, it’s anyone’s game. A rookie could pitch well enough to earn the role at some point in the year as well.

There is no favorite to be the setup man. The Texas Rangers will evaluate all relievers throughout the spring to determine which one is worthy of the position to start the season.

The setup role is an important one, though it is flexible. It’s always beneficial for a team to have a routine setup man, but the Rangers don’t have that luxury. There is not one obvious option and there is not one weak option.

If I were to predict a setup man on opening day, I would weigh toward either Shawn Kelley or Jesse Chavez.

Can Gallo be productive at the top of the lineup?

The idea is to always have your best hitters hitting at the top of the lineup. The players at the top will step to the plate most frequently. Joey Gallo is one of the team’s best hitters; therefore, he should be hitting towards the top of the batting order.

His power is extraordinary so the cleanup role makes great sense. Shin-Soo Choo, Elvis Andrus and Nomar Mazara reach base at a high rate; Gallo would have plenty of opportunities to drive them home hitting fourth.

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A popular move in today’s game is to hit your team’s best hitter second in the order. The Chicago Cubs often do so with Kris Bryant, the Yankees with Aaron Judge and the Angels sometimes with Mike Trout. Jeff Banister actually hit Gallo second in the first nine games of the 2018 season. Though, seeing how he didn’t hit second again for the rest of the season, the spot was not a good fit.

He hit 2nd in 9 games last year; 3rd in 1 game; 4th in 2 games; 5th in 47 games; 6th in 42 games; 7th in 29 games; 8th in 11 games; 9th in 7 games.

Gallo should hit comfortably in the 4th and 5th slots this season. A player with his talent should not hit any lower. Cutting down on strikeouts will lead to greater productivity. Regardless, the Texas Rangers need their 40-home run player hitting in an ideal RBI position.

What will the lineup look like?

Expect the Rangers to take more of an analytical approach with lineup configuration this year. That’s part of new manager Chris Woodward’s agenda. How exactly will that play out? Who knows? Woodward doesn’t even have the answer to that question at this point.

Analytics, player performances, matchups and health will all factor into the lineup card on opening day and throughout the season.

Just speculating, I see Choo continuing as the team’s leadoff man. We know Andrus and Mazara will hit somewhere in the top four slots and I already shared my thoughts on Gallo. The rest, I’m not too sure about.

We projected the Texas Rangers’ batting lineup at the beginning of 2019. You can check out the projection by clicking here. In my opinion, Rougned Odor is the most curious offensive player entering the season. It will also be interesting to see how Woodward uses Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ronald Guzman.