These seven Rangers rate as the biggest stars of spring training

Spring training is over (woo hoo!), as the Texas Rangers were scheduled to finish off the Cactus League with a Sunday matinee in Surprise, Ariz., with Lance Lynn and a bunch of minor-leaguers, while others were at First Tennessee Park.

That’s the home of the Rangers’ new Triple A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds, and the game in Music City was a christening of the four-year relationship. Most of the Rangers fans were probably hoping to see were already in Texas.

Lynn would have come, too, as he lives in the area, but the threat of rain washing out his final spring tuneup was too great for him to come home for a day.

The right-hander, one of five newcomers to the Rangers’ rotation for 2019, stood out as one of the stars of camp. He certainly lived up to his reputation of taking the ball every fifth day and wanting to log innings.

Who else starred? A look at the stats sheet tells a lot of the story but not all of it. Some players mature. Some embrace change. Some come to a new team and really impress.

Here are seven Rangers who shined this spring.

OF Hunter Pence

No position player created the buzz that Pence did. He came to camp needing to win a roster spot and did more than enough to do so. The 12-year veteran led the Rangers in at-bats (51). Repeat: A 12-year veteran led his team in spring at-bats. As a result, Pence entered Sunday leading in hits (16) and steals (6). But the Rangers rave about his positive energy, work ethic and leadership, and say they can’t put a value on that on a team and in an organization trying to grow young players into professionals.

2B Rougned Odor

Elvis Andrus and manager Chris Woodward say that Odor might be the MVP of camp, and, again, it applies as much to what he did off the field as on it. He swatted four homers, three to the opposite field, and drew five walks. The last two indicate that he is sticking to his approach of not chasing pitches and not being homer happy. Andrus said that Odor had a different presence. More maturity, perhaps. More professional. More focused. Woodward says at no one in baseball plays harder than Odor.

RHP Lance Lynn

The right-hander came as advertised. He’s going to log innings and keep the Rangers in games most nights. He also saw an uptick in velocity, hitting 96 last week in a start against the Milwaukee Brewers’ A lineup, and a surge in strikeouts. Lynn relies on his fastball, and it appears to be in good shape heading into the regular season. This is a proven big-league starter who will be a big upgrade from 2018.

SS Elvis Andrus

Maybe he didn’t have any questions about the health of his right arm, broken early last season and never the same even after returning from a two-month stint on the injured list, but a lot of people did. He answered them, regularly driving the ball and leaving Arizona with a .469 average (15 for 32) and 1.142 OPS. Andrus also has more leadership duties on his plate, and the extra responsibilities don’t appear to be slowing him down.

CF Delino DeShields

This isn’t anything new, as DeShields has impressed at spring training multiple times. He seemed to be on the verge of his best MLB season last spring but broke the hamate bone in his left hand in the second game and struggled thereafter. DeShields showed in spring training that he can still impact the game with his defense and his legs, and Woodward is counting on that speed to spark the offense. Spring training is one thing. The season is a different beast.

1B Ronald Guzman

A big man has a lot of moving parts in his swing and a lot of holes for opposing pitchers to attack. The goal over the off-season and this spring was to get those parts to sync better and to keep his bat in the strike zone longer. The result appears to be an uptick in power and a better chance at using the whole field. He still has challenges, including against left-handed pitchers, but his defense will keep him in the lineup.

LHP Brett Martin

The surprise of spring camp was Martin, who struggled mightily last season at Double A Frisco but appears to be on the very of his MLB debut as a reliever. The numbers will show that he was better than the final two left-handers standing, Jeffrey Springs and Kyle Bird. Springs is on the Opening Day roster. Bird, with an edge in experience, is still in the hunt. Martin has made some mechanical adjustments and seen his pitches play better in relief.

This story was originally published March 24, 2019 at 2:05 PM.