Rangers spring training offense heating up, but expectations stay measured

Inching closer to Opening Day, manager Skip Schumaker is beginning to play his everyday guys on back-to-back days and from the looks of it, there’s something brewing.

Entering Saturday’s split squad matchup, their game against the San Diego Padres is featuring the same top three we are likely to see in Philadelphia.

That trio was part of a seven run inning outburst against the Rockies on Friday afternoon and Texas scored 35 runs in their last five games.

Rangers’ fans need to be realistic but it’s ok to be excited

Everyone will tell you that spring training stats are hard to judge and it’s not worth getting overly excited about.

While that’s true, it doesn’t mean to forgo them entirely. Mentioning the 35 runs in the last five games, the Rangers are 11th in MLB in runs scored this spring with 165. Texas is also has the fifth most home runs, tied with Seattle at 43, batting .250 and have driven in 158 runs (9th in MLB).

In Friday’s seven run third inning, the entire 1-9 got into the action by either drawing walks, recording a sacrifice fly or doubling home a runner or two.

Of course there are negatives. Players that might still be unknowns like Joc Pederson and Josh Jung. However, the 1-9 Schumaker put together the last couple of games might be the Opening Day group and the key to unlocking a boost in offensive production this season.

Rangers need to remain unsettled, strive for consistent improvement

Following a couple seasons of offensive struggles, the Rangers made changes on the coaching staff and roster. With a new batting coaching duo of Justin Viele and Alex Cintron, the philosophy change was simple.

Back in December, Viele told MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry the team just needs to be patient and return to their strengths.

“For example, we're not expecting Cody Freeman to hit the ball 110 [exit velocity] to center field for homers, but we're expecting him to make a lot of contact and be a tough at-bat,” Viele said. “We're not expecting [Josh Jung] to walk at 12%, but we're expecting him to get hits and do some damage. What makes those guys feel the most confident is if we're boosting what they do well, instead of always picking out what they don't do well, playing to their strengths.”

The at-bats have certainly looked better this spring. Sure there are on occasion bad reps at the plate, strikeouts chasing a curveball into the dirt or ground outs on the first pitch.

It doesn’t matter because they are beginning to click and play to their individual talents.