After the public squabble between "Mr. Ranger" Michael Young and the Rangers front office this winter, Young has quickly made Rangers fans forget about the spat and swing everyone back on to his side of the matter, if there even is a matter to side on anymore.
He's done it with his play so far in 2011, which is very arguably the best play of any Rangers player so far this year as he leads the team with a .339 batting average, a team-leading 16 doubles and is second on the team behind Adrian Beltre with 31 RBIs.
Young was upset because he was afraid he wasn't going to play every day, especially after the Rangers acquired Mike Napoli, but that's clearly not been the case. He's started at every infield position and as the team's DH.
Now, the Rangers are toying with the idea of trying to play Young some in the outfield, something he's never done as a professional.
And why not? Young is known as the consumate professional. He's been working some with Rangers outfield coach Gary Pettis, and there's no reason for the Rangers to doubt that Young could pick the position up at some point. He'd never played first base as a pro before this season, and while he's had a few head scratching moments there, there hasn't been anything serious.
Frankly, it's really hard to envision taking Young's bat out of the lineup right now, and with Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz both returning to the lineup tonight against the White Sox, the Rangers will likely want to DH both of them at some points this season, especially Hamilton.
So give it a shot. What is there to lose? Even more depth than they already have?
