ARLINGTON -- There is no better example to illustrate how the Rangers' mindset has changed over the last decade than the case of the No. 2 spot in the batting order.

Then: It belonged to Elvis Andrus because manager Ron Washington viewed him as the best contact hitter, the best bunter, the best guy to move a run over. In other words, he wasn't much of a threat.

Now: Manager Jeff Banister is handing it to Joey Gallo for Thursday's season opener because it has become the most important spot in the batting order and Gallo has the most ability to be the Rangers biggest threat. Ergo, Joey Gallo, entering his second full season, has become perhaps the single most-important player to the Rangers lineup.

Mike Trout, the best player on the planet, has primarily hit No. 2 for the Los Angeles Angels. Jose Altuve, the AL MVP last year, split his time between the No. 2 and No. 3 spots. Along with Trout and Altuve, Cleveland's Francisco Lindor was one of the top five finishers in the AL MVP race who often hit second. This year, Aaron Judge, the MVP runner-up in 2017, will hit second for the New York Yankees.

Gallo joins them. Nice company.

"The game has evolved and everybody is so good," Gallo said. "I don't look at this as a pressure spot because those guys hit there. I don't need to be them. I just need to be myself. I'm a little more comfortable now, so that helps."

"There has been a transition to having your most impact hitters get that extra at-bat each game and how it adds up over the course of the year," Banister said. "You don't want that guy to NOT come up in the eighth or ninth inning."

It is a big step forward for Gallo, who started one game in the No. 4 spot last year and had at least 20 starts in the five lowest spots in the order. He had more starts at No. 7 (37) than anywhere else. He has never hit No. 2. Guys who hit .209 and strike out 196 times are not considered prototypical No. 2 hitters.

Then again, there is nothing about Gallo that fits a prototype. He is going to strike out a lot, yes, but he is also going to crush pitches and command the strike zone. He finished the year with 41 homers and an .869 OPS. For context, only AL players with sufficient No. 2 at-bats had a higher OPS than Gallo; Manny Machado, a nice player to build a franchise around, was fifth at .859. A little more context: Gallo's OPS was the highest in history for a guy who hit .210 or less. And by 69 points. He did plenty of damage.

And the Rangers believe the trajectory is only continuing to shoot straight up for Gallo.

"What pushed me more towards this is the walks, the continued on-base," Banister said. "If you didn't have the high on-base, it would be a little more challenging. Where he is with his mindset and his development, I thought it fit."

For Banister, it is still about fit more than about one player. In theory, placing Gallo in the No. 2 spot, allows the Rangers to address other problems that arose throughout the lineup last year.

Among them: The Rangers had too many strikeouts in the bottom half of the lineup, rallies died in the bottom third of the lineup and the bottom third of the lineup came up too many times with the game on the line late, leading to an offense that was flat late in games.

By moving Gallo to the No. 2 spot, the Rangers create a top third of the lineup that has on-base ability and above-average speed with Delino DeShields, Gallo (an above-average baserunner) and Elvis Andrus.

Just as important, it allows Banister to move Shin-Soo Choo, an above-average on-base guy to the No. 6 spot to potentially start rallies in the bottom half of the order. And it drops Rougned Odor, who had the majority of his starts (86) in spots Nos. 2-5 last year, to No. 8. His aggressive nature and big-time power may play better there.

"When you get to No. 6, you essentially flip the lineup again with the on-base ability of Choo," Banister said. "And if you sleep on Odor, he can hurt you. You look at the best teams in the league the last few years and their ability to score from the bottom of the order outperformed the rest of the league. We feel like this offense has the ability to put some runs on the board."

Much of it depends on Gallo.

"It's a good theory," Gallo said. "There is more responsibility on me, but there is a lot of things that could come from it that could benefit the team."