Rangers notes: Napoli sits, but he’s determined to learn left field
The starting left fielder for the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night was not Mike Napoli, even though the Rangers were 5-1 in games that he had started in the outfield when a left-hander was pitching.
Defense, at least for a night, mattered more than the offense.
Colby Lewis was the Ranger’s starter, and his knack for getting more fly balls than ground balls was the biggest factor in putting Napoli and his subpar outfield defense on the bench in favor of Drew Stubbs.
“Defense is a premium in the outfielder being that he is a fly ball guy,” manager Jeff Banister said.
Napoli has started seven games in left field, and the Rangers have won six of them and scored 58 runs. Napoli could have been at first base for Mitch Moreland, but Banister said that the matchup against Oakland lefty Felix Doubront favored the lefty-hitting Moreland more than the righty-hitting Napoli.
But that didn’t stop Napoli from continuing to work in left field well before the game. Napoli was the first player on the field, at 1 p.m., to continue taking fly balls. One tip provided to him by outfield coach Jayce Tingler is to take a more deliberate route to balls rather than charging to them as fast as possible.
It’s embarrassing when a play like that happens, but when it happened last night, I knew my teammates had my back. They know they’re going to get my best effort.
Rangers first baseman/DH/left fielder Mike Napoli
The sprinting Tuesday night contributed to Napoli having a tougher time tracking a fly ball that he dropped, leading to an Oakland run. He’s dropped two balls so far.
“Just not being in a hurry to get to a spot,” Napoli said. “The two balls I’ve dropped, I ran so hard to a spot rather than getting there smoothly so the ball’s not moving so much when I’m running. I need to take what I’m doing in the pregame into the game.”
Napoli admitted that he gets anxious waiting for a ball to come to him, and that the two drops have been embarrassing. But he has been comforted by the support of his teammates and coaches, who know the task he’s facing as a catcher-turned-first baseman now trying to learn the outfield.
And he’s not going to stop trying to improve.
“I’m real determined,” he said. “I’m just going to stick with it.”
Hamilton at Houston?
Josh Hamilton ran the bases, shagged fly balls and took swings off the live pitching of minor leaguers Erik Swanson and Sal Mendez as he tries to return from surgery on his left knee Sept. 11.
Hamilton was so encouraged by his progress Wednesday that he said that he’s hopeful that he can play a few innings in the outfield this weekend at Houston.
“I’m glad he has that in his sights because that means that he feels good,” Banister said. “But we’ll continue to evaluate it.”
Hamilton said that his knee was sore when he arrived to O.co Coliseum, but it loosened up quickly and didn’t give him any issues. The only time he has had any problems is during long stretches of inactivity.
“It was a good day today,” Hamilton said. “The ultimate goal is for me to be back in Houston some time. It’s just going to depend on what Skip wants to do, if he wants to wait or keep going with what he’s got because it’s working pretty well.”
Looking at 200
When Cole Hamels judges if his season has been a success or a failure, he doesn’t look necessarily look at the statistics that one might think.
Oh, he looks at wins, but the number of wins his team had in his starts. He also looks at innings pitched, and he doesn’t look favorably upon anything below 200.
Hamels will move closer to the 200 mark Thursday afternoon when he starts the finale of a three-game series at O.co Coliseum. Heck, he might get there, needing only 8 2/3 innings for his sixth consecutive 200-inning season.
“I really don’t care about my individual record as long as I’m going deep in the ballgame and at the end of it I’ve taken care of my job the best that I can,” Hamels said.
“That’s always been of my top goals each year to remain healthy and to be able to get that 200-inning mark. I think that’s important in this day and age, because 200 innings shows that you’re durable and you’re giving your team a chance, and that really [is indicative] more of a winning pitcher than anything.”
The Rangers have won seven consecutive games started by Hamels after losing the first two. Though he won’t start in the upcoming Astros series, Hamels will start twice on the season-closing homestand and be in line for the second game of a possible division series.
This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 8:34 PM with the headline "Rangers notes: Napoli sits, but he’s determined to learn left field."