{"id":597028,"date":"2026-02-27T23:24:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T23:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/597028\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T23:24:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T23:24:28","slug":"rangers-giving-josh-smith-a-chance-to-win-2b-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/597028\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers giving Josh Smith a chance to win 2B job"},"content":{"rendered":"

SURPRISE, Ariz. \u2014 Texas Rangers manager<\/a> Skip Schumaker was once a utility player (and, in his words, a \u201ctrain wreck\u201d at second base) before St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa moved him to the infield full time on a team with championship expectations. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t trying to not get to the playoffs or win a World Series with Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright on the mound,\u201d Schumaker said Friday morning. \u201cLike, they expected plays to be made, and Tony gave me the shot. \u2018Here you go, it\u2019s yours, what are you going to do with it?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Schumaker, who broke into the big league as a utility outfielder, turned the chance at an everyday role into 382 games started at second base in a four-year span for the Cardinals that included a championship. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s one way to say that Schumaker understands super utility man-turned-second-base-candidate Josh Smith\u2019s current circumstances. Smith has spent the past two seasons as the club\u2019s go-to fill-in man but is now the lead candidate to replace Gold Glove-winner Marcus Semien at second base despite relative inexperience at the position. <\/p>\n

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Oh, and for one-to-one translation\u2019s sake, swap out Carpenter and Wainwright for Nathan Eovaldi and Jacob deGrom. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of Smitty\u2019s opportunity right now,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cGo get it, take it, don\u2019t look back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith has started his first five Cactus League games at second base and played error-free in limited defensive opportunities. He\u2019s played only eight career big league games at second base \u2014 half of which came last season \u2014 but has started at each infield and outfield position as the club\u2019s super utility man. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe work has been good,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cI can live with whatever mistakes are possibly going to happen \u2014 and they will \u2014 because of how hard he\u2019s working.”<\/p>\n

Schumaker acknowledged that infielder Ezequiel Duran<\/a> is still in contention for the job. Smith, given his experience and track record of offensive success, should be considered the favorite. His ability to produce at the plate beyond just the first half of a season may ultimately determine whether he can be the club\u2019s everyday second baseman for a full campaign. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking for him just to take hold of it and force me to play him every single day,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cWhere I have to be like, \u2018Gosh, man, how do I not put this guy in the lineup?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Skip Schumaker provides updates on banged-up, ill Rangers regulars<\/a>SportsDay Rangers Episode 27: The one with Benji Gil<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SURPRISE, Ariz. \u2014 Texas Rangers manager Skip Schumaker was once a utility player (and, in his words, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[5,3417,4,149,185,1567,69,3240],"class_list":{"0":"post-597028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas-rangers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brief","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-rangers","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-texas-rangers","15":"tag-texasrangers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116145179176202170","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}