SURPRISE, Ariz. - At the opening of the movie Step Brothers, which has become something of a guidebook for the friendship of Joey Gallo and Nomar Mazara, Will Ferrell, in a Pablo Cruise T-shirt, and John C. Reilly, size each other up from afar before awkwardly introducing themselves across a lawn.

It was the exact same way for Gallo and Mazara -- except nobody that we know of demanded to be called "Dragon" -- in the summer of 2012 on their first day together in the Arizona Rookie League.

Gallo, 6-5, had arrived from Las Vegas with $2.5 million bonus as an 18-year-old. The guy next to him, was 6-4, but with a larger stack of cash ($5 million), a full grown beard and an already present demeanor that would one day earn him the nickname of "Big Chill."

The bonus babies sized each other up through the first meeting and conditioning. Then came an evening round of batting practice.

"I was just getting to know the guys on this team," said Rangers minor league field coordinator Corey Ragsdale, who at the age of 29 was about to begin his first stint as a minor league manager. "I'm talking to some of the pitchers in the outfield. Joey is up there hitting. And all of a sudden, I'm like, 'Wait, did that ball just go through the lights?'"

Surely, this is a euphemism.

"No," Ragsdale said. "Went right through them."

Back at the batting cage, Nomar Mazara stopped in his tracks.

"Wow, who is this guy?" he thought. "I got to get to meet this guy."

And it was then that they looked at each other and effectively said: "Did we just become best friends?"

Yep.

Growing together

Now, nobody can confirm if Gallo and Mazara immediately went to the garage to do karate, but they have been pretty inseparable ever since. They followed one another in the Arizona Rookie League lineup. They lockered next to one another in the clubhouse. It's possible Gallo even introduced Mazara to his unnatural love of Chipotle.

And, most importantly, they rose through the Rangers' system together, showing prodigious power (more so Gallo) and a sophisticated approach to power hitting (more so Mazara). When they open the 2018 season in the Rangers lineup, it will be the sixth time in seven professional seasons they have opened on the same roster. On the one occasion they didn't, in 2014, the duo was reunited at Double-A Frisco for the final month of the season and have finished every season together.

Those teams have a combined .550 winning percentage, one championship (in the Arizona League), four playoff appearances and just one losing season. That came last year at the major league level.

What they have done is grown as players, while growing as friends and doing it in a winning environment. That sure sounds like the epicenter of a promising major league core.

Texas Rangers Nomar Mazara, left, and Joey Gallo, right, are all smiles during the Detroit Tigers vs. the Texas Rangers major league baseball game at Globe Life Park in Arlington on Tuesday, August 15, 2017. (Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News) (Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer)

"If you could build it out, that's how you'd want it to be, right?" said Ragsdale, who also managed them at Class A Hickory in 2013. "That kind of thing could have a big impact. Having talented guys on the same page, who care about each other, that is always a positive. It matters."

Said Gallo: "We know each other so well. We know how to pick each other up. We have a real brotherhood, not something fake. He helps me. I trust him more than just about anybody. Chemistry-wise, to have that ... it does wonders."

Added Mazara: "Every good ballclub has to have guys like that. The Royals had [Eric] Hosmer and [Mike] Moustakas. You have to have guys who come up together. We've known each other a long time already, and so we are all there for each other."

Preserving the core

What their friendship did from the very first season in Arizona League rookie ball was push each other. Mazara had a .306 batting average over the final month of the season. He was trying to keep pace with Gallo, who smashed 18 home runs to lead the league and win MVP.

At Hickory, Gallo kept mashing home runs, leading the South Atlantic League with 38. Mazara struggled out of the gate, but made a midseason adjustment to get hot before tailing off again. It led to the one year the two were separated, with Gallo going to advanced Class A Myrtle Beach and Mazara repeating Hickory. They were rejoined at Frisco where they hooked up with perhaps the best core of prospects the Rangers have ever had at the Double-A level.

The RoughRiders, on the way to an 80-59 record, had at some point on that team 14 players who have already reached the majors, before a trade diaspora broke it all up within a year.

Pitchers Alec Asher, Jerad Eickhoff, Jake Thompson, catcher Jorge Alfaro and outfielder Nick Williams were all sent to Philadelphia for Cole Hamels in 2015. Odubel Herrera was left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft and moved to Philadelphia as well. Luke Jackson would eventually end up in Atlanta and Chi Chi Gonzalez on the disabled list. But Gallo, Mazara, Rougned Odor, Drew Robinson, Ryan Rua and unflappable Alex Claudio all made stops there that season.

"That's a lot of big league players on that team," general manager Jon Daniels said. "We knew we had talent and we had options. That's the value of young players. If things didn't break at the big league level, we still had the flexibility at the big league. The moves we made in 2015 and 2016, we had legitimate shots and we acted upon them. We gave up talent and there was risk. But we wouldn't put Nomar or Joey in that 2015 deal and I feel like that was the right call."

The call preserved the heart of the Rangers' core.

And it allowed Gallo and Mazara to pose for photos this spring leaning on one another's shoulders. Gallo posted the photo to Instagram.

The caption: Your favorite stepbrothers.

Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant

Road show

Since Gallo and Mazara made their professional debuts on opening night for the Arizona Rookie League Rangers in 2012, they have been spent time as teammates every season. A look at their travels: