So is spring training kind of broken down in your mind into the three parts, the February part, and then that early March, until it\u2019s like, \u201cHey, this is kind of dress rehearsal,\u201d or if not, how do you break down spring training?<\/p>\n
Skip Schumaker: For some guys, it\u2019s right away, this is your World Series. Like, you gotta go. Corey Seager doesn\u2019t get a hit the first week in February, I think he\u2019s gonna be okay, right? So I think it\u2019s different for everybody. As a former player, every day meant I had to try to make a team, and so every day it didn\u2019t matter, I had to post and be ready and show that I was ready to go, where there\u2019s some guys on this team, that it\u2019s a progression, it\u2019s a slow progression. Are they ready for opening day in Philly? That\u2019s the most important part. So I think it\u2019s just different for everybody.<\/p>\n
Over the last couple of years, Josh Smith will have a really good first half and then struggle in the second half. How do you help him work that out?<\/p>\n
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Schumaker: Chase winning. That\u2019s what you got to do as a player. I think if you\u2019re focused on trying to get to the end with good numbers, or whatever it is your thought process. Not that I know if he\u2019s doing this or not, but if your math, \u201cOkay, if I have 30 more at-bats, I get 10 more hits, and these are going to be the numbers, or whatever it is,\u201d I\u2019m guessing that his first half, all he cared about was trying to help win the game. The second half is if all you care about is to try to win the game and not get to the finish line, and to try to get these concrete numbers to get money, or whatever it is. And I\u2019m not suggesting that\u2019s what he was doing, but there are players that fall into that trap, because you look at the numbers and you\u2019re trying to get to the finish line and have a really good year or have a bad year based on the last two months. And it\u2019s hard for young players sometimes to see that. Josh is a winning player. I know that for a fact, he has bounced around. It\u2019s not easy to bounce around, left field, first base, second base, shortstop, third base. I mean, he has played everywhere, oh, by the way, and you got to produce. And last year he faced [Garrett] Crochet opening day, right? That\u2019s how valuable he is. And we know that the compete is in there, because you wouldn\u2019t face Crochet opening day as a left-handed hitter, not a lot of lefties face Crochet. But for him, that\u2019s where we think who he is as a player. Now, how can we get more consistency for 162? Well, that\u2019s part of our job, and that\u2019s not only for him, but for everybody. It\u2019s how can we be more consistent, not have these peaks and valleys as a team? It\u2019s why we\u2019re getting paid, and if we don\u2019t do our job, then you\u2019ll see another guy here. And so we\u2019re gonna do the best we can to provide that environment for our players.<\/p>\n
Cam Cauley, what have you seen from his approach and what\u2019s led to his start in spring training?<\/p>\n
Schumaker: We\u2019ve asked him to cut down the strikeout rate and increase the walk rate. He\u2019s done that. He\u2019s still young, 22 years old in Double-A last year, I was 24 in Double-A. So like he\u2019s still young. And there was a guy at[Sebastian] Walcott there that got a lot of notoriety, which he should, he\u2019s a stud. Cam had a good year. Look at his second half numbers last year, he was really good, and he came into camp not being protected when the 30 teams could have got him because he wasn\u2019t on the 40 man. And he came in with an edge like, \u201cI\u2019m going to prove you wrong,\u201d and he has done that so far. He\u2019s versatile. Played second, played short, played center. You\u2019ll see him at third later on in camp. So all you want to do is provide a manager or a staff with an option, and he is doing that, and he\u2019s opening up a lot of the guys\u2019 eyes here that haven\u2019t seen him before.<\/p>\n
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Alejandro Osuna just departed to go play for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic<\/a>, but at the same time does that hinder what he\u2019s doing here in spring training? It feels like he\u2019s fighting to make this team as well.<\/p>\n Schumaker: You watch the WBC, just like you would watch spring training. So if I\u2019m here and there\u2019s a B game in Mesa, I\u2019m watching the B game in Mesa when I get back. It\u2019s the same thing with [Cal] Quantrill and [Robert] Garcia and Osuna. That part doesn\u2019t change. I think the tough part is, I don\u2019t know how much he\u2019s going to play, so he would get more consistent at-bats here, where there, I\u2019m not the manager there, I\u2019m hoping he gets a lot of at-bats and continues in his progression going into the season.<\/p>\n The leadership, does it grow in spring training? Do you already have guys in mind that are the leaders?<\/p>\n Schumaker: Well, a lot of stuff that guys don\u2019t see. It happens behind the scenes. So leadership, it depends on what you think leadership is, is it jump on a table and flip the table over when stuff is going bad? Or is it like organic conversations at a hotel bar, inside your hotel room where you guys are talking to guys? So there\u2019s a lot of different ways I think what leadership is and what leadership looks like. It\u2019s not always inside of a clubhouse where media or people can see what they think what leadership is, some guys, it\u2019s fake leadership, quite honestly, because they want to be that loud voice in front of people so they can write a story. That\u2019s not leadership either. So I think there\u2019s more leaders in that clubhouse than maybe people think. We just didn\u2019t have the year we wanted last year. Change happened. That\u2019s what happens when you don\u2019t win. And I think there\u2019s a lot of guys that are motivated now because they didn\u2019t win, that they\u2019re showing that was an outlier year. We had some guys that didn\u2019t have the years they wanted, and they want to prove that was just one of the years in their career, but this is more who they\u2019re going to be in 2026.<\/p>\n Texas Rangers top 30 prospects: No. 22 Dalton Pence impressed in his first full year<\/a>Rangers\u2019 Jacob deGrom set to make spring debut vs. Team Brazil at Surprise Stadium<\/a><\/p>\n Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n