Former Rangers infielder Michael Young (now a special assistant to the GM for the organization) joined the "Ballzy" podcast to talk all things baseball ahead of Texas' opening day. Listen to the podcast below.

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Michael Young: I'm extremely optimistic. I think it's a championship-contending team. I expect us to win the division again and make some noise in the playoffs. Last year was an unbelivable starting point. To start the way we did, make the acquisitions that we made in the summer, then to close out and win the division, it was an incredible season for us, especially after 2014. Basically last year represented a new beginning and everything that happened with the World Series teams was kind of put to bed a little bit. This is a new team, a new era and a very, very promising start last year. So I expect us to build on it.

Barry Horn: Michael, what do you feel most positive about going into the season, about the team?

Young: I think the two things that really stick out, specifically, are our position player depth and our bullpen. Our position player depth is sick. We have a lot of really talented guys, but I guess you can say our position player core is very veteran. So it's guys that have been around a long time. But there are also some guys that have played through some bangups over the years. So you need to have that depth and we have a ton of young position player depth that can come up and pick up the slack if a couple of guys need a couple weeks off in order to get their bodies ready to rock and roll again.

Then you look at what our bullpen looks like, our bullpen is absolutely stout. In my opinion, it's the best bullpen the Rangers have ever had. So we have the opportunity to shorten games, and not only shorten games, but given how deep our pen is, you don't have to rely on the same guys every single time, so you don't have to torch your pen as the season progresses. I think that's a massive strength for our team. Of course when we get Yu Darvish back into our rotation, that gives us more starting pitcher depth. It's a really, really good club.

Grant: What could potentially hold Rougie back? Everybody's kind of going on this tangent that this guy's going to be a superstar this year. What's the one thing he's got to watch for that could potentially be a drawback for him?

Young: I mean, the one thing that could hold him back? Maybe the Zika virus? Nothing. I mean this guy is an absolutely... I think he's just a fantastic player. I think the sky is the limit. He has every skill you could possibly ask for. You combine that with his work ethic, his mentality, his approach to the game, his aggresiveness, the obvious enthusiasm he has for the game and the sky really is the limit. I think the biggest thing -- and this isn't a knock, this is just an experience thing -- he's a very young left-handed hitter.

So young left-handed hitters have to see good, big league left-handed pitching in order to get used to it. So that's all that is. I fully expect him to wear out right-handers and continue to progress against lefties. The good thing about him is that he's not afraid of anything out there and he's going to go out there and compete hard every single time he's out there. I'm a huge fan of this kid, have been since day one and I expect him to really build on what he did after his recall last year.