All offseason long, the Rangers were hoping to get the Shin-Soo Choo they saw over the final couple of months of the 2015 season, when the beleaguered veteran turned things around and led the Rangers to the AL West crown. In the process, he was named the AL Player of the Month for September after getting off to about as bad a start as a player could fear for in April and May of last season.
But so far, all we've seen is five games of Choo in a Rangers uniform as he was scratched from the lineup in the Rangers' opening week game in Anaheim with a calf strain.
Now, that's getting close to changing.
Choo worked out with the team before games in Detroit over the weekend and told The Dallas Morning News he went full speed in both base running and fielding drills and reported no ill effects.
Now, he's set to head back to Surprise, Ariz., to the club's spring training facility for extended spring training action this week before going on a rehab assignment, barring any setbacks. Then, on May 20, the idea is to activate Choo from the DL for the beginning of a series in Houston, where he turned his season around after the all-star break a year ago.
What happens when Choo returns is anyone's guess as far as the outfield alignment goes with the emergence of Nomar Mazara, but the general thought is that Mazara will stay in right field, and Choo will move over to left field, which would push Ian Desmond to center and Delino DeShields to the minors.
