Let's continue our breakdown of the 25 roster spots on the MLB club and the players who want their names to be left of those last lists of cut players. Again, the questions we are asking today are:



Who is on the 25-Man and why should I care about them?

Who is potentially going to be on the 25-Man and why should I care about them?



Outfielders are a pretty hot topic this spring because the Rangers decided to staff about 500 of them, thus they will be our second breakdown.



The Outfielders

The outfield is a pretty demanding job. If you are not the best hitter, you better be able to play center field and play it well. If you don't have a huge arm, you better be able to hit and field your position well. If you aren't very fast you should have a huge arm and a huge bat. Spring Training 2016 is a pretty interesting season for the Texas Rangers precisely because of the outfield because the Rangers have a massive amount of outfielders ready to play in the MLB, many of whom will be cut and sent down or released.



The Starting Texas Ranger Outfielders: Ian Desmond - LF, Delino DeShields - CF, Shin Soo Choo - RF

There is almost no doubt that this is what we are looking at to start the season and you should feel really good about that. Ian Desmond is a good player and when you consider the price tag of $8 million it makes him even better. The guy is athletic, fields left field much better than I expected he would, and he hits baseballs really hard. I fully expect him to regress towards his average season with the bat and maybe put up a 110 wRC+. If he can do that and play above average defense in LF he could easily provide a 3 win season. His spring training stats are absolutely monstrous at .391/.481/.609 and he's also been reported as a great clubhouse guy during the spring. I was skeptical of the pickup at first, but Desmond has me sold on his ability.

Delino Deshields is probably the biggest question mark for me. He's got the speed that everyone dreams of, but seems to struggle with stealing bases and getting to balls in the outfield. His bat was a major surprise to us all last season, but he has kept up that strength as well posting a .896 OPS. There was also a great article on Fangraphs that put together the data and found that DeShields swings at less balls outside the zone than any other player in the MLB, which is a very valuable skill. If Delino is able to play average defense in CF and manages to keep his OBP around .344 he will be a fantastic asset. If not, there are a few guys who are pretty good who would love to have his job.

Shin Soo Choo was a tale of two players last season, but I'm starting to suspect he's closer to the monster of the second half, than the mouse from the first. I do have a bit of a soft spot for Choo because I love guys who have great plate discipline and a bit of power, but his second half was incredible. He had a 14.4% BB rate and 11 dingers to go along with a .343/.455/.560 slash line, good for a 176 wRC+. To put that into perspective, he was second in wRC+ over that period, behind only Bryce Harper with a 182 wRC+. If Choo can tap into any of the stuff he was producing last season, we should see another very productive year from the Korean hype train.



The hopefuls: James Jones, Ryan Rua, Drew Stubbs, Justin Ruggiano, and Josh Hamilton (kind of kidding).

Just to be clear, I only included the guys who are going to seriously be considered for a starting spot right out of the gate. These are the guys fighting for that 4th outfielder spot and the competition is actually pretty damn fierce. 2 of these guys have had pretty good to great springs, two are solid major leaguers who can hit lefties, and one is an aging MVP with lots of health and personal issues, I'll let you figure out which is which. One more clarification though is that in none of my future scenarios do I think it's likely that Ruggiano makes the team. The Desmond signing made it tougher for him, but his terrible performance made it impossible.

In my opinion there are two possibilities that have a pretty large impact on who makes the team. If the 4th guy needs to be able to play CF fairly regularly then the only two options are Jones and Stubbs, and maybe only Stubbs. If it turns out that both DeShields and Desmond are capable of playing CF, things get interesting. If that's the case then Rua/Stubbs/Jones are all viable candidates.

Between these three I think the first to be kept off the team will unfortunately be Ryan Rua. He has had an amazing spring and I think he's ready, but he has options and he needs ABs. A scenario where Rua might be called upon is if they want a 4 corners guy on the team. If Rua is to be called up, the ABs need to be there and if they aren't he's going to be in AAA.

I have to think the 4th outfielder spot is going to Drew Stubbs. I actually like the idea of giving the spot to Jones better because he's younger and he's shown an improved bat this year, but the org likes Stubbs and he plays an excellent outfield. It is just a bit tough to root for the guy who put up a .412 OPS for your team. He should regress towards his average this season and it wouldn't be crazy to see a respectable 80-85 wRC+ from Stubbs this season. Plus Stubbs had an insanely clutch catch that saved the game and maybe even the season.



The Future: I won't go into too much detail because I talked about them in depth in my previous prospect breakdowns, but this is just a reminder that the big three are coming. They will all be here on September 1st at the latest and very possibly before that. Just imagine your face when you see a lineup in the future that reads:

1. Lewis Brinson (8)

2. ?????????????

3. Nomar Mazara (9)

4. Joseph F. Gallo (7)

Final Thoughts

The outfield is likely another pretty great spot on a good club this season. With the amount of talent out there along with the massive amount of depth waiting to bubble over, the present and future seems bright. Oh yeah, and Hamilton is there too, sitting in limbo waiting for his body to catch up to where he wants to be. He's a wild card who could change this whole shebang. Any way you look at it there is a lot of talent there and it should be very fun to watch the drama unfold.