Last year, Texas Rangers utility man Josh Smith acquired the American League Silver slugger as the league’s top hit utility player.
During spring training, Smith said his goal this year is to win Gold Gloves as an altity player.
The Ranger appears to be doing everything he can to ensure he is in that position to make it happen.
They will face the San Francisco Giants on Saturday. The Rangers decided to give right fielder Adris Garcia a break from the field. Instead, they started Smith. Smith has started his second career in the right field.
As Evanglant of Dallas Morning News pointed out, this is the seventh different position Smith has played this season. If you count the designated batters, it’s eighth.
Looking at Smith’s baseball reference page, he started eight games with four starts with 3 bases (instead of injured Josh John) and shortstops. While Corey Seager is on the list of 10 days of injured hamstring injuries, he could potentially start there.
Smith started two games on one base, one game on two base, two games on the left field and one in the center field. This does not count the additional games he played on the field as in-game replacements in 3 bases, shortstops and 2 bases. He did it all in just 21 games.
This means that Smith has two positions left to play all nine positions during the season – pitcher and catcher. He has never played any position in the majors up to this point.
Rangers’ baseball business president Chris Young and manager Bruce Bossy said in spring training that the thing is to make sure Smith wins at least 4-5 games a week, even if Smith doesn’t have a set position.
So far, Rangers have confirmed that Smith is in the lineup almost every day.
Texas also moves Smith in turn. At the beginning of the current road trip, the Rangers took advantage of the opportunity to shuffle the lineup to move Smith into the leadoff position. He responded by getting 3-4 on a home run that hit the top spot in the first game.
He hit eighth on Saturday. For most of the season, he was hit in the third spot in order.
Wherever he plays, he produces.
