PHOENIX -- Early Tuesday afternoon, Rangers owners Ray Davis and Neil Leibman, walked the length of the Chase Field outfield. Along the railing of the visitors dugout, medical director Jamie Reed met with his Arizona counterpart. Nomar Mazara worked on fielding ground balls.

From top to bottom, the club was using its two-game trip to Arizona to soak up research and get feedback on the Arizona Diamondbacks' new artificial surface, the same one the Rangers will install at Globe Life Field for 2020.

All the feedback was good.

Unless they checked in with Adam Jones.

The Diamondbacks' veteran outfielder couldn't find anything "wrong," with the new surface, but acknowledged the same bias that many fans and players have.

"I'm a grass guy," Jones said. "I grew up playing on grass. I like grass stains. Turf is still a lot different than grass. So far, this has played good but it's going to take some time to get used to."

Jones knows artificial surfaces well. For the last seven years with Baltimore, he made regular stops on the artificial surfaces at Toronto and Tampa Bay, the only two places using synthetic turf until Arizona went to Shaw Sports Turf's B1K product this year. The Rangers are going to the same product, though with what is expected to be a more advanced supporting performance pad when they open their new stadium.

But, for now, he also appears to be something of a voice on an island. Converted infielder Ketel Marte, now playing center field, said he's been pleased with the surface. Boston's Andrew Benintendi, who like Jones has played a lot of road games in Toronto and Tampa.

"This turf is pretty good, better than Toronto," Benintendi said during Boston's weekend visit. "It's maybe more like Tampa, but less bouncy. When you drag your cleat across it you don't get those rubber pellets. It's more like dirt. It played pretty well."

After his workout, Mazara said the field was "more realistic" than turf he's previously played on.

And, according to Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall, fans have also been surprisingly pleased, perhaps due to the mowing pattern that makes the field more visually appealing than other turf fields.

"The reviews have been great from fans so far," Hall said. "They've told us it looks more natural than they expected. We expected a little more pushback."

Of course, the visual appeal is perhaps the least important element of the decision to go with turf. More significant are safety and playability. The Rangers are getting a feel for both during this visit. And there are still questions to consider as they prepare to start installing the product in December or January.

Among them:

Warning track: The Rangers have been debating whether to go with a dirt warning track or to use a different textured and colored synthetic surface. The synthetic surface might look cleaner with less "bleeding" of the dirt into green areas. But they were impressed with how clean the Chase Field surface looked with a dirt warning track.

They might be well-served to listen to Jones' advice on this one: "An outfielder needs to have an idea of where he's at. In Toronto and Tampa, it's been hard to figure that out."

Watering procedures: Yes, the synthetic surface still needs watering. The crushed coconut infill, after all, is organic. Left to the heat, the infill could dry up, harden and make the surface play much faster than intended. But it's still too early to get a real feel for how the heat will impact the surface on a daily basis. Head groundskeeper Dennis Klein is expected to travel to Phoenix later this season to get a better idea about what the Diamondbacks have learned.

Sub-surfaced content: The decision here is a concrete sub-surface or go with crushed rock as Arizona has. A performance pad will then lay between the sub-surface and the turf. The concern on crushed rock is that it can settle and cause some soft areas with potential depressions. That issue could become exacerbated if heavy equipment is moved on the surface, which seems likely since the Rangers intend to use the venue for concerts and other events. While the club weighs that decision, they are expected to dig "troughs" under the infield dirt to put a more natural sub-surface under it.

Appropriate footwear: This one may pretty much be answered. In the first exhibition game on the turf, Diamondbacks outfielder Steven Souza wore plastic cleats. They worked fine running in the outfield, but when he stepped on home plate after racing home with a run, he slipped and injured his knee and is out for the year. The Diamondbacks have been wearing metal spikes ever since. Jones said there were no issues with the metal spikes grabbing the synthetic surface too hard. The Rangers will, however, continue to do some kinesiology research on the subject.

"They benefited, I think, from some of the research we did and we are going to benefit from their experience this year," said Rangers general manager Jon Daniels, another member of the front office staff contingent that made the trip. "I think we will benefit from this."

Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant