Texas Rangers 2019 Positional Review: Right Field

The Rangers' most tenured positions on the team are in the middle infield. Elvis Andrus has manned shortstop since 2009 and Rougned Odor has held down second base since 2015. After those two, Nomar Mazara's stay in right field is next in line.

Mazara has defended right field since 2016 when he broke into the major leagues. After a promising rookie year, many expected Mazara to reach that high ceiling of his in just a couple years.

Here we are looking back on 2019 and we are still waiting. Mazara is a promising talent, no doubt. He's a fantastic athlete, has a great swing, a good arm in right field, and can hit the ball a mile. Well, maybe not quite that long, but he did record MLB's longest home run of 2019. I'm not sure if it's landed yet.

Guys, Nomar Mazara hit a ball to the moon today.

Measured at 505 Feet, it's the longest home run ever at the Ranger's Ballpark in the Statcast Era. (via @Rangers) pic.twitter.com/VF6fsWgQlO
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 22, 2019

Those home run highlights are a lot of fun to watch. But a man who can hit the ball 505 feet needs to be hitting more than 19 home runs in a season. To be fair, Mazara did play in only 118 games in 2019, but his 22.6 AB/HR in 2019 was his career-best and it was barely better than the American League average of 23.4.

Despite the results on the field, Rangers management and coaching staff is still high on Mazara. Down the stretch, they truly believe he was picking up on the new process Chris Woodward was emphasizing to his players in his first year as the Rangers' manager.

Hunter Pence was brought into spring training on a flier and turned out to be an All Star at the age of 36. While primarily playing as a designated hitter, both Pence and Shin-Soo Choo played right field most of the time when Mazara was out of the lineup. The team effort out of right field led to a .843 OPS, which was 4th in the American League.

2020 Outlook

Projected starter: Nomar Mazara
Internal options: Shin-Soo Choo, Joey Gallo

Offseason priority: VERY LOW

As mentioned earlier, the Rangers believe in Nomar Mazara. They have every intention of going into 2020 with him as their every day right fielder.

That being said, with the Rangers nearing the end of their rebuild and focusing on building a contender in 2020, all options are on the table. There are more players that can play in left or right field than there are spots available.

Texas could run with five outfielders and use their DH spot in their outfield rotation, or they could listen to potential offers and see if they can take their surplus in the corner outfield spots and address a weaker area of the roster.

Trading Mazara right now would be losing value on an asset. Mazara's stock is lower than it's ever been to outside organizations. It would be very difficult for the Rangers to find a trade partner for Mazara because common ground in trade value would be very difficult to reach.

It would be easier to trade either Shin-Soo Choo or Joey Gallo. Choo, while having a hefty $21 million owed to him in 2020, would be a valuable asset an American League team would pay for as long a Texas ate a chunk of that salary. With Joey Gallo, his value is the highest it's ever been and teams would line up with trade packages for him.

If the Rangers stand pat in the trade market here, Mazara will get the bulk of the appearances in right field, with Shin-Soo Choo making a decent amount of starts there as well. Joey Gallo could also see some games there if the Rangers have to get creative to find Willie Calhoun at-bats.

2020 Outlook

Read more 2019 positional reviews on SI Rangers Maven: