Washington: Murphy Will See Plenty Action In 2012

It seems clear that David Murphy will see a good amount of playing time this season, as the Texas Rangers seem to be leaning toward using Josh Hamilton mostly in center field, but that doesn’t mean Murphy will get the Opening Day start in left. Manager Ron Washington isn’t sold on the idea that an Opening Day start means much, particularly if you’re not going to play much after Game One of the season.

That said, he is pretty sold on the idea that Murphy will see plenty of action in 2012, at least based on his work this spring: Murphy is currently hitting .327.

"I could start Murphy on Opening Day and two days later you may not see him in the lineup," Washington told the team’s official website. "Is he going to be in there every single day? No. is Hamilton going to be in center field every single day? No. He'll play some center field. Murphy will play a lot."

Murphy, meanwhile, knows the key to a major role is carrying his impressive spring over to the regular season, a transition he’s struggled with somewhat in the past.

"I think it's easy to assess at this point," Murphy said. "It's what I said from the beginning. If things do work out and I'm in an everyday role, the focus has to be on being more consistent. Everybody is aware of my history of being a slow starter and being inconsistent in the first half. I want to be a more consistent player from Game 1 to Game 162, or Game 170 or however long the season lasts."