Rangers star voices opinion on artificial grass for new park. Is he in favor of it?
The fans may hate it, and any rational person should be leery of management’s explanation, but the Texas Rangers players who will play on the artificial surface are OK with it. For now.
Long before the club announced it would use a synthetic surface at Tax Hike Friendly Ballpark, which will open in 2020, team officials met with players to ask about their preferences for the playing field, among other potential desired amenities.
The overwhelming response from the players was they wanted real grass.
Well ... real grass was never much of an option, but it was nice the club asked.
Shortly before the team made the announcement to go with a fake grass, they met with players at the team’s youth training facility in west Dallas to give them the head’s up.
“(General manager) Jon Daniels, the owners (including Ray Davis), they all met with us to go over why they were doing it,” outfielder Nomar Mazara said. “They explained to us the decision. This organization cares about us. I think everybody is good with it. No organization cares more about their players than they do.
“They don’t want us to get hurt. They pay us a lot of money and they want to see us do well.”
In fairness to all the Rangers players, what else are they going to say? They’re not going to crush the team.
Mazara explained, pretty much what the Rangers said, that this latest form of artificial grass is superior to the current version that replaced AstroTurf many years ago.
“This doesn’t have the black (rubber) in it that you see,” Mazara said. “I think this will be a lot better than what they use now.”
In the meeting with the players, the club demonstrated the new material, which contains crushed coconuts. Long time team physician and trainer Jamie Reed attended the meeting as well to explain the benefits of the surface, as well as to provide answers to any questions about the potential health risks.
Mazara said neither he nor has anyone with the team actually had a chance to stand, run, or play on the surface yet. He said the team showed them an example of what it will be, and how it will feel.
“I think they are still working on it and trying to perfect it,” he said. “We trust the organization and why they’re doing it.”
It’s not as if the players had any real choice on this issue. The club was going to do this regardless of their response. This is one of the few instances when the Major League Baseball Player’s Association has no voice.
Virtually all of the players when asked about this topic one year ago did not want fake grass, citing the problems they had when they played on the artificial surface in Tampa.
The truth on this will only come out after one of the Rangers’ players plays on the surface in the entire 2020 season, and then he goes to another team and opens his mouth.
Until then ....
This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 7:00 AM.
