With the Rangers' surprising season in the books, let's take a look at the season on a position-by-position basis.
2015 first basemen
The guy: Mitch Moreland
The reinforcement: Mike Napoli
Mitch Moreland finally stayed healthy for an entire season and finally showed what he's capable of in a full, healthy season. The first baseman was third on the team among regulars in batting average (.278), tied for first in homers (23) and second in RBIs (85). And while Prince Fielder was voted by the local writers as the team's MVP for the 2015 season, Moreland had a really strong case for it when you throw in his defense, which was gold glove caliber.
He did struggle, at times, against left-handed pitching, and that was a big reason why the Rangers went and got an old friend in Mike Napoli in early August, trading for him from Boston, and Napoli made himself at home, playing much better for Texas than he did with the Red Sox.
Napoli only played in 35 regular-season games with Texas, but he hit .295 with a lofty .396 on-base percentage, five home runs and 10 RBIs, while playing primarily against left-handed pitchers. In an odd twist, he actually played more games for Texas in left field than he did at first base, even though that was a largely failed experiment from a defensive standpoint.
The Rangers would love to have Napoli back in 2016 and have Moreland in his final year of arbitration, but there is talk he could be a key piece in a big winter trade.
Whatever the case for next season, the position performed admirably in 2015 with a season grade of A.
