Rangers are expected to vary batting order this season

Another day passed Sunday with the Texas Rangers moving closer to getting everything in order for Opening Day.

The starting rotation is essentially in place, but the batting order remains in flux with only three days remaining before the Rangers leave Arizona. It could be in flux throughout the season.

Manager Jeff Banister believes that a number of factors, including numbers, should dictate the batting order each game, even at the expense of the widely held belief that players perform better when they know where they will be each game.

The lineup regulars are largely known. But while spring training is about tinkering for the regular season, with less than a week to go most spots in the batting order appear to be unsettled.

“It’s about being in the lineup more so than being out of it,” Banister said.

“There are some regulars who you see show up in certain spots. But we’ve talked about this since the beginning of, and even prior to, spring training. You want to be able to have a stretched lineup. You want to be able to construct your innings such that they give up a better opportunity to score runs.”

Banister said that the opposing pitcher is a key factor. Left-hander or right-hander. Reverse splits or traditional splits. Susceptible early in games or late in games.

Maybe the foe’s starter is Clayton Kershaw, and runs will have to be manufactured. That could dictate which hitters Banister picks and where he decides to put them.

Maybe an opposing starter is terrific over this first 50 pitches, but then finds trouble thereafter. The batters who take the most pitches per plate appearance could be higher in the lineup.

“There’s a lot of different factors that go into it,” Banister said.

Take the Rangers’ lineups over the weekend. The first five hitters Saturday and Sunday were Leonys Martin, Shin-Soo Choo, Adrian Beltre, Prince Fielder and Ryan Rua. On Sunday, Elvis Andrus, a fixture in the No. 2 spot in past seasons, batted seventh against Los Angeles Dodgers starter Brandon McCarthy.

Andrus, though, will vault to second Monday and Choo drops to sixth as the Rangers face Kansas City starter Jason Vargas.

The flip-flopping could have been a chance to get Choo extra at-bats in the No. 2 hole after missing time with a sore left triceps, and then placing him sixth Monday because Mitch Moreland is off.

It could have been based on the right-handed-hitting Andrus dropping against the right-handed McCarthy and the left-handed-hitting Choo dropping against the left-handed Vargas.

“Who we face determines a lot of that, too,” Banister said.

Andrus prefers to bat second, where he is most comfortable. Choo would like to bat third. Fielder wants to bat fourth, where he has batted most of his career. Beltre wants to have a big bat behind him as protection.

“I trust my manager’s decision,” Fielder said.

To this point in spring training, with games running out, each batter will have to trust Banister. All that has been settled is Martin batting leadoff.

Fielder and Beltre will be together somewhere in the middle of the order. Rougned Odor and Robinson Chirinos will bat in the bottom third. Choo, apparently, could bat in any of the first six spots, though second to fifth seem more likely.

Rangers hitters are going to have to become comfortable with being uncomfortable as they slide up and down the lineup this season, and be most comfortable knowing that they have a spot in the order.

“We’ll see how it plays out,” Banister said. “It’s going to be a work-in-progress pretty much all year long.”

This story was originally published March 29, 2015 at 5:22 PM with the headline "Rangers are expected to vary batting order this season."