Surprise, Ariz. -- There is a lot of optimism in the Rangers clubhouse as the team gets ready to defend its Western Division Championship. One can see it in their eyes and the effort they are putting on the field.
For shortstop Elvis Andrus, his day begins at 4:30 every morning, where he and some of his fellow players share a house outside of Phoenix. “It takes me about 45 minutes to get to the park,” he said. He wants to improve in every aspect of his game, especially his fielding.
He takes more than a hundred ground balls in the field early in the morning going to his left and then backhanding the balls hit to his right. Guillermo Mercedes, hitting coach of the Rangers Dominican Republic rookie team really makes him move around as he hits hard grounders to him.
The next day Mercedes does the same thing to third baseman Adrien Beltre who swiftly handles all the grounders hit to him. He makes it all look easy, but that is the result of all the hard work he has been doing.
Inside the clubhouse everyone is calls each other “Champ.” It was Prince Fielder that got that started.
Fielder talked about his recent sleep study that he had done in Texas to address his sleeping disorder. He was fitted with a CPAP machine the he hopes will help him get a better good night’s sleep. When asked who the three best baseball players he has seen Fielder said without hesitation, Adrien Beltre, Miguel Cabrera and Ken Griffey, Jr.
New Ranger Ian Desmond seems to be enjoying his new team. He said he has not yet found a house in the Arlington area but indicated he would be moving from one Arlington to another as he lived in Arlington, Va. while he was with the Washington Nationals. He did point out that housing in Texas seem to be less expensive than in the Washington, D.C. area.
For shortstop Elvis Andrus, his day begins at 4:30 every morning, where he and some of his fellow players share a house outside of Phoenix. “It takes me about 45 minutes to get to the park,” he said. He wants to improve in every aspect of his game, especially his fielding.
He takes more than a hundred ground balls in the field early in the morning going to his left and then backhanding the balls hit to his right. Guillermo Mercedes, hitting coach of the Rangers Dominican Republic rookie team really makes him move around as he hits hard grounders to him.
The next day Mercedes does the same thing to third baseman Adrien Beltre who swiftly handles all the grounders hit to him. He makes it all look easy, but that is the result of all the hard work he has been doing.
Inside the clubhouse everyone is calls each other “Champ.” It was Prince Fielder that got that started.
Fielder talked about his recent sleep study that he had done in Texas to address his sleeping disorder. He was fitted with a CPAP machine the he hopes will help him get a better good night’s sleep. When asked who the three best baseball players he has seen Fielder said without hesitation, Adrien Beltre, Miguel Cabrera and Ken Griffey, Jr.
New Ranger Ian Desmond seems to be enjoying his new team. He said he has not yet found a house in the Arlington area but indicated he would be moving from one Arlington to another as he lived in Arlington, Va. while he was with the Washington Nationals. He did point out that housing in Texas seem to be less expensive than in the Washington, D.C. area.
