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That is probably the most important piece of this,' Woodward said. 'He has to prove that he can handle the second base position defensively. But his best position is second base, where he had 16 starts. Nick Solak led all MLB rookies with 56 hits while primarily playing in the outfield.

Seven of his 11 hits in September were homers, and he struck out 47 times in 138 at-bats. He led Texas with 30 RBIs in 38 games and matched Joey Gallo with a team-best 10 homers, but hit only. Second baseman Rougned Odor, at 26 and also signed for two more seasons, will also have to compete to keep his starting job.

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'He's taken a step forward with the bat, and I think as we look at not just this year but the next few years, you've obviously got a pretty unique free agent class a year from now, and I think as we look forward we want to make sure we've answered some of the big questions we might have not just now but in future offseasons and future times of potential acquisitions.'

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He's always been a plus defender,' general manager Jon Daniels said. The Rangers had even used him as a catcher his first two seasons as a way to get him in the lineup. The Rangers had signed veteran third baseman Todd Frazier last offseason, but he ended up splitting time between third and first base before getting traded at the deadline. The 25-year-old Kiner-Falefa started 15 games at short and made 42 starts at third base after earning that spot with his performance in camp before the pandemic-delayed and reduced schedule. He is owed $28.5 million over the next two seasons. Woodward said Kiner-Falefa still had to earn the starting spot at shortstop, and has told Andrus he would have the opportunity to 'prove us wrong.'Īndrus played only 29 games last season because of lingering back issues and hit only.

'Can he handle the position? I believe he can.' I want to answer that question,' Woodward said. But I think it comes down to, do we believe in Kiner as a shortstop? I want to see it. 'This wasn't an easy decision based on what Elvis has done for the organization.

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Manager Chris Woodward said Tuesday that the Rangers wanted to give both Kiner-Falefa and Andrus clarity on the plans so they would know how to approach their offseason workouts.

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I’m a good player, but I wasn’t allowing myself to be good because my thoughts weren’t good.The Texas Rangers will give Gold Glove-winning third baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa the opportunity to be their starting shortstop next season and have told Elvis Andrus to prepare to play all infield positions.Īndrus, at 32 the longest-tenured Ranger after 12 seasons, is the only player remaining from their back-to-back World Series appearances in 20. I was thinking of the things that could happen in the future instead of understanding that, if I take it day by day day, I can overcome it. 'When I was down there, I didn’t know if I could get out of it,” Kiner-Falefa said.

During this time, Kiner-Falefa said it felt like he was 'drowning' and considered it one of the toughest stretches of his career. 730 OPS at the conclusion of May, but it drastically fell to a season-low. Meanwhile, his performance at the plate plummeted during the summer months. However, he missed the cut for the Midsummer Classic. As All-Star voting was coming to an end, Kiner-Falefa had built a solid case for himself. His defensive metrics were among league leaders across the board, and he was hitting well enough to put him among the likes of Carlos Correa and other All-Star shortstops in bWAR. After the first couple months of the season, it looked like Kiner-Falefa might pull it off.