While Texas Rangers GM Jon Daniels was introducing Lance Berkman to the DFW media on Monday, he dropped a pretty unexpected bombshell.
Daniels said Ian Kinsler will open the season as the club's second baseman, his usual position, while super prospect Jurickson Profar will most likely begin the season with Triple-A Round Rock. Woah. Wait. What?
Profar was all but a lock to start the season in Arlington after showing he was ready for the big stage last season by homering in his first big-league at-bat and coming up with a huge pinch-hit double in the clutch in the AL Wild Card Game.
Kinsler was all but set to be moving positions to accommodate Profar's ascent to Arlington, but now he'll start the season back where he's played his entire career with the Rangers.
While this might lack the intrigue and excitement that would've come with starting Profar on Opening Day and see Kinsler at first base, this is probably a wise, solid move for the Rangers.
While Profar is without a doubt ready to roll in the bigs, he won't do anything but benefit with some more at-bats in Round Rock as a 19-year-old, and Kinsler won't have to be thrust into a brand new position. Additionally, this will allow Mitch Moreland some time to prove that he deserves to be the club's everyday first baseman after having a similar task the past two seasons but coming up with ill-timed injuries each year.
So if the Rangers do indeed decide to roll with this plan, the pressure all falls on Moreland's shoulders and is fully alleviated from Profar's, even though from what he's shown us so far, the pressure wouldn't get to him anyway.
