Day 4 of camp was a pretty big day as all players are now in camp. Prince Fielder and Elvis Andrus were the last two players to arrive. Elvis came in rocking a James Harden-like or Abraham Lincoln-like beard. Prince came in having cut his hair and possibly having lost a few pounds. That bodes well for the Rangers as they are going to need him to bounce back from what was a disappointing 2013 season. It was a season that saw him have declines across the board. He had less home runs, rbi’s, lower OBP and OPS, and a higher strikeout number. Then it got worse in the postseason when he only had 1 rbi in 11 games. Now with a new organization and a new lineup the Rangers are hoping that he will reverse those trends and become the hitter he was just two years ago.

The big news of the day was Ron Washington announcing what his lineup will be come opening day if everyone is still healthy. The lineup will be as follows:

LF Shin-Soo Choo
SS Elvis Andrus
1B Prince Fielder
3B Adrian Beltre
RF Alex Rios
DH Mitch Moreland
C Geovany Soto
2B Jurickson Profar
CF Leonys Martin
The story that everyone in the media was talking about was how Wash plans on having Fielder hit in front of Beltre. Fielder throughout his career has been the number 4 hitter. The last two years he has been the guy protecting Miguel Cabrera in the Tigers lineup. Wash said about this, “I think Adrian is more productive for me in the years I’ve been here with him in the fourth hole,”. The stats do back him as well. Beltre as the cleanup guy last year hit .315, 30 hr’s, and 92 rbi’s. Washington is going to roll with what he knows. That lineup does look pretty balanced and that is what the Rangers are needing. They have two guys up top that will get on base, guys in the middle who can drive them in, and then the bottom the order should be able to keep it going. Hopefully for the Rangers sake everyone can stay healthy and we will be able to see this lineup in action.

All of the infielders took ground balls yesterday as well. Washington, who is a great infield instructor, came away from the sesssion excited. “They put on a show,” Washington said. “I must have hit about a thousand balls this morning and not one ball hit the ground. Everything I hit was in a glove. Everything. Everything.” The group that he was talking about was the middle infielders. It included Jurickson Profar, Brent Lillibridge, Luis Sardinas, Rougned Odor and Adam Rosales. Take away Profar and that is your group that is trying to win the utility infield spot. Out of that group Rosales has the inside track to winning the spot. It is good that they were able to field everything Wash threw at them. To win that spot they are going to have to prove themselves flexible and able to provide good defense at all positions.

In injury update news, Profar still is not being allowed to throw. He did go through workouts, but they are holding him back from throwing. Matt Harrison is scheduled to meet with Dr. Keith Meister where it is expected that he will be cleared to resume activities. Once that is done he is expected to throw to live hitters today. Tanner Scheppers who has a minor back issue is also scheduled to meet with Dr. Meister as well today. Hopefully a day or two of rest will clear that up as well. Colby Lewis continued to throw well and show improvement. He threw his second live batting practice of the season and was able to command the ball better over the arm side of the plate. Washington was carefully watching over his workout making sure that he was fluid and not tight at all after his first session two days ago.

Finally today is the first official full squad workout. Everyone is in place and ready to go. Next week will be intrasquad scrimmages and then a week from today the Spring Training games get started. That is when the real fun gets started. That is when competitions for spots will start to heat up, and that is when we start to find out what and who the 2014 Texas Rangers are.

Daily Countdown: 39 Days till Opening Day