Here’s how Texas Rangers may handle crowd in left field, at DH with Khris Davis aboard
This story is one in a series of position previews leading to Texas Rangers spring training. The first workout for pitchers and catchers is Wednesday, and the first full-squad workout is Feb. 22.
Willie Calhoun has been challenged by manager Chris Woodward to not be content just being a designated hitter for the Texas Rangers.
Only 26 and not yet eligible for salary arbitration, it’s too early in Calhoun’s career to stick the all-bat, no-glove label on him.
However ...
The Rangers signed David Dahl to a one-year $3 million contract not long after the Colorado Rockies did not tender him a contract, leaving him shocked. He’s better defensively than Calhoun and is expected to get the majority of the time in left field.
Dahl also rates as a better glove man than Khris Davis, who was acquired Feb. 6 from Oakland in the five-player Elvis Andrus trade. Davis is a DH, barring an unusual circumstance that would require him to play defense.
That leaves three players for two spots, and really two players for one spot when accounting for Dahl’s defensive supremacy over the other two. As much as Woodward might not want to pin down Calhoun at DH, he might have to in a platoon with Davis to make the Rangers’ jumbled roster work.
“Wille, we love, and he’s been here. Khris Davis, we know what he can do with a bat in his hands,” Woodward said. “To get these guys at-bats, it’s going to be a little up to them.”
Woodward provided one way for Calhoun to get additional at-bats: Doing better as a left-handed hitter against lefty pitchers than Dahl, who also bats left-handed.
Calhoun batted .368 against lefties last season, albeit in only 19 at-bats. Lefties, though, have held him to a .235 average in his career.
Dahl has a .277 career average against lefties, but hit only .156 against them in 2020.
Davis will play against lefties, against whom he has .831 OPS in his career.
“Things will typically take care of themselves,” Woodward said. “If Khris Davis is performing at a level that he did in the past, he’s going to find himself in the lineup. And same thing with Willie. We have nine spots in the lineup. It may be difficult at times, but guys, if they’re performing, they’ll find a way in.”
Dahl could end up as the backup in center field, which would also create time for Calhoun in left field.
The addition of Dahl gives the Rangers a better chance of covering the spacious Globe Life Field outfield, along with right fielder Joey Gallo and, presumably, Leody Taveras in center.
“Dahl, in my opinion, is a really good outfielder,” Woodward said. “He feels like he can take it to another level defensively. Those three guys, with Gallo, Taveras and Dahl, that’s a pretty good outfield.”
Battling his way back
Calhoun has faced roster adversity in previous spring trainings. He was shocked in 2018 to be among the first players moved out of big-league camp, and then stunned again in 2019 to lose out on a roster spot to Hunter Pence.
Calhoun went to camp last season assured of starting in left field, but he was struck in the face by a fastball in early March and then had a hip injury late in summer camp that cost him a spot in the Opening Day lineup.
He later injured a quadriceps muscle that also interrupted his season.
Rather than stay in the Metroplex, Calhoun spent much of the offseason clearing his head with his family in California. He worked out in Los Angeles with the same trainer who works with NFL stars Odell Beckham Jr. and Saquon Barkley.
Calhoun said in October that is ready for 2021.
“I know everything happens for a reason,” he said. “I just needed to detach and focus on myself.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
