Spring Training Day 3

We were back in Surprise Stadium for day 3 to watch the Rangers take on the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds have an exciting young team, with a potent offense and some good young pitchers. They feature shortstop Elly De La Cruz, who I would nominate as baseball’s most exciting player. At 6’5” he is an imposing figure with amazing power at the plate and blazing speed. He also has a throwing arm which is regarded as the best of any infielder. And by the way, De La Cruz is 23 years old.

The big change in Cincinnati is new manager Tito Francona. I will have more to say about him in my 2025 predictions in a few days, but for now I’ll just state that Tito will make a difference.

It is always interesting to see former Rangers playing for opposing teams. Today, the Reds featured a former Texas pitcher and catcher, Nick Martinez throwing to Jose Trevino. This game was certainly different from the slugfest we saw the day before. The Rangers jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a Home Run by new slugger Joc Pederson, then Cincinnati pulled even in the top of the third. In the bottom of the 4th Jonah Heim hit a sacrifice fly to give Texas a 4-3 lead, and that was the final. Just good pitching from then on by both teams.

We just saw the Rangers in a couple of games, but I do want to mention a couple of rookies who impressed me. They may not get to Arlington this year, but remember their names. Outfielder Alejandro Osuna had a terrific spring, with an on base percentage over .500 (!) and great defense, and pitcher Emiliano Teodo , who gave up no runs this spring as he featured his 100+mph fastball along with a sinker in the high 90’s. And he has an upper 80’s which has an incredible vertical break. Wow.

That’s one man’s opinion - what’s yours?