Seven positions are TBA at Texas Rangers camp. Yet, spring is about prospects’ ETAs
The first full-squad workout of Texas Rangers spring training arrived Monday morning, and the business of sorting out the Opening Day roster is officially underway.
As far as manager Chris Woodward sees it, the only position players who have secured their spots are right fielder Joey Gallo and shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
Catcher Jose Trevino and center fielder Leody Taveras are strong favorites to be in the lineup April 1 at Kansas City.
The rest — first base, second base, third base, left field and designated hitter — will shake out over the next six weeks. Plenty will be written, especially if Nick Solak overtakes Rougned Odor as the second baseman.
(How many Rangers fans don’t want that to happen?)
Though those position battles will help determine wins and losses, this camp isn’t about them.
This spring will be remembered as the first big-league camp for Josh Jung, the third baseman of the future, and Justin Foscue, the second baseman of the future. And right-handers Cole Winn and Hans Crouse, who aren’t all that far away from being in the rotation.
The list of first-timers goes on, but there’s Sam Huff, Anderson Tejeda, Sherten Apostel, Dane Dunning and Kyle Cody in their second go-around in a big-league camp after making their MLB debuts last season.
Again, the Rangers are rebuilding. Again. The prospects in camp are the next wave that is supposed to carry the Rangers back into the postseason.
“We’re heavily focused on these guys,” Woodward said. “They’re our future. They’re more of our immediate future than we probably think. We’re constantly evaluating these guys.”
They weren’t hard to find Monday, the first day media was allowed at the Surprise Recreation Campus as part of the COVID-19 protocols. Jung and Foscue were in a group of prospects that also included infielder Davis Wendzel, first baseman Curtis Terry and outfielders Bubba Thompson and Walker Steele.
Cody and Dunning were side by side as they threw their second bullpen sessions this camp. They are competing to be in the rotation to open the season.
Almost all of the Rangers’ top prospects, though, are going to start the season in the minor leagues. That includes Jung, barring a worst-case scenario of injury, an utter lack of performance of those competing for the job, or a Zombie apocalypse.
Some of them have been told that. Others haven’t, possibly with the worst case in mind.
Either way, their approach should be the same.
“The message is, ‘You come in and show us what you can do regardless of whether you have a chance to make the team. It’s not just about Opening Day and making the roster. We plan on you playing 10 or 15 years in this organization. If that’s they case, why are you stressing about making the Opening Day roster? There’s a development pattern of getting you ready for the big leagues.’ “
These guys will get an unusual amount of playing time this spring.
Minor-league camp doesn’t begin until after big-league camp ends. The Rangers will need players to fill in once veterans have exited Cactus League games, and there will likely be more B games than usual on the back fields.
“We never get a chance to do that,” Woodward said. “I want to see these guys, how they sustain their routines, how they compete when I watch them fail. I honestly evaluate these guys more when they fail than when the succeed. I want to see what they’re made of.”
The Rangers have a good feel for the prospects who debuted last season, and saw that most of them need to begin in the minor leagues. Others who made a case for the Opening Day roster might be in the minors based on numbers.
And then there’s the group headed by Jung and Huff.
The 2021 MLB season won’t be about them, at least not initially. Their target, for the most part, is 2022 and beyond.
But this spring is all about them.
This story was originally published February 22, 2021 at 3:35 PM.
