After latest spree, Rangers know: ‘It’s time to win’
SURPRISE, Ariz. — “It’s time to compete and it’s time to win.”
Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe didn’t mince phrases Monday, which marked the second key date on the membership’s Spring Training calendar: the primary full-squad exercise.
Lowe, who came visiting in December 2020, is a member of that youthful nucleus. On the heels of successful his first American League Silver Slugger Award final season amidst a breakout marketing campaign (27 homers, 143 wRC+), the membership’s veritable ironman at first base is exuberant concerning the new-look group.
“If there aren’t changes going on,” Lowe mentioned, “then it looks like we’d be OK with mediocrity.
“Shown by the people in this clubhouse and the people that are new coming in here, it seems like they’re done with it.”
Whereas younger Rangers gamers are unaccustomed to the trials of a full Major League season that might culminate in a postseason look, new supervisor Bruce Bochy boasts a wealth of expertise round successful baseball. With 2,003 wins and three World Series victories as an enormous league skipper on his resume, Bochy is not any stranger to coming into camp together with his membership on the heart of nationwide consideration.
“We should have high expectations right now when you look at the improvements that have been made with this club,” Bochy mentioned. “I certainly want them to feel that — you should embrace that.”
Adding the quantity of expertise — notably on the pitching aspect — that Texas has this offseason is a surefire manner to enhance successful projections. The membership completed with the third-highest starters’ ERA within the AL (4.63) final season, and its rotation walked extra batters than every other on the Junior Circuit. If wholesome, the deGrom/Eovaldi/Heaney triumvirate ought to go a good distance towards rectifying that.
Offensively, the quartet of Lowe, Semien, Seager and Adolis García returns to function the center of a lineup that might be wanting so as to add some dynamism to the rest of the order. Each of the 4 hit at the very least 26 homers final season, they usually had been the one Rangers to complete at higher than league common when adjusted to ballparks (OPS+). Much of that offensive assistance will come from inside, with many key members of the group’s prospect pipeline — Josh Jung and Ezequiel Duran amongst them — having gained reps throughout 2022.
“I think the young guys that were here last year are going to be better,” Semien mentioned. “Everybody gets better with experience in this league.”
With the caveat of the crew “looking” higher, it stays to be seen the way it will all gel in a hyper-competitive AL West that options the reigning World Series champions in Houston, two of the sport’s finest gamers (Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani) in Los Angeles and an upstart group in Seattle that’s coming off 90 wins and a playoff berth.
“I think the offseason, sometimes it makes me mad how much we talk about what’s on paper and then we forget about the actual baseball that needs to be played,” Semien mentioned.
That precise baseball is ready to get underway Friday, when the Rangers kick off Cactus League play towards the Royals at Surprise Stadium. But the video games that rely towards the place the membership aspires to be are nonetheless a methods off, which leaves a runway of time to develop and additional hone camaraderie.
“In terms of the experience in the room, the talent in the room — veteran or young — we’re a lot better than we were last year,” Semien mentioned.
It’s not simply pc fashions and metrics projecting extra success for the Rangers in 2023, it’s the ballclub as nicely.
