Spring Training begins in just seven days from today, so I thought I would take a minute and look at the things that we will be really watching as the team begins reporting to Surprise, AZ. There are a whole lot of things that we already know about the 2015 Texas Rangers, such as the first two starting pitchers, Yu Darvish and Derek Holland, and the infield and catcher, right field and center field. So, for your Friday reading enjoyment, here are some things that you need to be watching for starting next Friday.
- Left Field: There is a plethora of options to play left field for the Texas Rangers. The list includes but is not limited to Jake Smolinski, Michael Choice, Ryan Rua, Delino DeShields, Mitch Moreland, Jared Hoying, Ryan Ludwick, Antoan Richardson and still more. There is going to be a battle at this position, and I am looking forward to watching who comes out of camp as the left fielder. My money would be on either Jake Smolinski or Michael Choice, but there is always one surprise player to come out of camp (last season it was Kevin Kouzmanoff), and it could definitely come from this group of guys.
- The Bullpen: The Texas Rangers bullpen is no where close to being set right now. We know that the closer role is Neftali Feliz‘s to lose, and he probably won’t. Behind him, there is Tanner Scheppers, Shawn Tolleson and a group of unknown guys that include Phil Klein, Roman Mendez, Spencer Patton, Alex Claudio, John Edwards and Kyuji Fujikawa. That is just the guys on the forty man roster. There will be more trying to compete for the job. The bull pen will either be a surprising strength for the Texas Rangers in 2015, or it will be a growing pain type of season for a lot of young guys learning to pitch in the majors. I hope that it is a surprise strength myself.
- The Back of the Rotation: We know it will be Darvish, Holland, Colby Lewis and Yovani Gallardo in some order, but who will the fifth starter be? It will be a competition between Nick Tepesch, Nick Martinez, Ross Detwiler and Lisalverto Bonilla for the most part. Again, someone could sneak up here and really impress the brass, but I believe that it is going to come down to the guys I have mentioned above. Again, it should be a very fun competition to keep an eye on as spring training gets underway.
- Designated Hitter: It will probably be a mix between Mitch Moreland and one or two of the other bench players, but this job in my opinion is the most wide open on the team. Mitch might just win himself an outfield spot, and if he does, the Rangers are going to have to find a DH pretty quickly. I don’t think that Moreland will be the starting left fielder, but it definitely could happen. This role might go to someone who is not ever a part of this team yet. We will just have to wait and see what happens and how the current guys perform at the DH spot.
In just one week, pitchers and catchers will report and begin tossing baseballs around, and for me, that means everything is once again right with the world. Is it next Friday yet?