The Texas Rangers outfield went through a lot of changes in 2014. The only consistent for the entire season was Leonys Martin. Around Martin in center field, the Texas Rangers used a plethora of players. Michael Choice, Daniel Robertson, Alex Rios, Jake Smolinski, Jim Aducci, Shin-Soo Choo, and even Mitch Moreland. That is going to have to change this off season if the Texas Rangers are going to be successful in 2015.
The numbers for the outfielders (and I will use the guys who played at least 10 games out there) look like this: BA of .252, a slugging percentage of below .400, 37 home runs, 225 RBI for eight guys, so an average of 28 RBI per player (stats from baseball reference). Not overwhelming numbers to say the least. So what can the Texas Rangers do to try and address this problem during the off season? They need to add at least one power outfielder.
I do not know who that is going to be or even if they are going to try and pursue one, but I think the numbers speak for themselves. When all three outfielders were hitting 25 plus home runs and 80 plus RBI way back in 2010 and 2011, it is a big fall off for sure. This team needs at least one power hitting outfielder to help with numbers next season. Maybe a healthy Choo will do that for them, but I doubt it. Jake Smolinski showed promise, but he is young and will probably still struggle a bit as he acclimates to the majors, if he even makes the team out of spring training. I am still not sure about Michael Choice.
As far a the outfield goes, I believe that Choo in left and Leonys in right are a foregone conclusion, now the Texas Rangers just need one more big bat to play right, maybe that will be Nelson Cruz, but I highly doubt it. I also highly doubt the return of Alex Rios. We will have to wait and see who is out there in the Texas Rangers price range to see what they are going to do. Should be fun to watch what happens.
