Texas Rangers Make Decision on Left Fielder
Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy made the obvious clear on Sunday — Robbie Grossman is going to get the majority of the playing time in left field in the regular season.
Grossman, signed last month by the Rangers as a free agent, had gotten the majority of that playing time in left field since Spring Training games began, but Bochy hadn’t made a public declaration on the position for the regular season.
He took that step on Sunday, saying he is happy with Grossman this spring.
“He’s the guy that’s going to get the lion’s share of the playing time there,” Bochy said.
Going into Sunday, Grossman was hitting .400/.500/.667/1.167 in 13 games with 30 at-bats. He’s already managed 12 hits, two home runs and nine RBI batting primarily in the bottom half of the order.
This isn’t to say that Grossman will start every day. Bochy said that Brad Miller, another potential left fielder, would get a start on Sunday on the back fields at the club facility in Surprise. The Rangers also have Bubba Thompson, who ended last season as the starting left fielder. He has played primarily in center field with the injury to Leody Taveras.
The Rangers also have Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran working as potential super-utility players that can play both infield and outfield.
One of the issues coming into spring was Grossman’s splits from last season. He was batting better than .300 from the right-hand side and under .200 from the left.
Bochy believes Grossman has made the adjustments needed to be more consistent from both sides of the plate.
“He gives you defense, he’s a switch hitter,” Bochy said. “You know sometimes we get too caught up in the splits. He’s made an adjustment from the left side, he’s gotten back to a higher leg kick, he’s quieted down. So those at-bats have been better. The more he gets, the better he’ll be.”
Those splits haven’t always been as stark. For his career, Grossman is batting .279 as a right-handed hitter against left-handers and batting .232 as a left-handed hitter against right-handers.
The Rangers can live with those splits.
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