SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Leonys Martin may have been the last everyday player to arrive at spring training for the Texas Rangers but it appears that he and manager Jeff Banister are already on the same page as far as his role.
Martin, who batted leadoff for the Rangers 35 times last season, would like to remain in that role this year.
Banister hinted that could be the case without coming right out and saying it Wednesday on the report date for the entire squad.
"I'm glad he wants to be the leadoff hitter," Banister said. "I hope he takes that approach all spring. And not only the spring but throughout the year. He has a terrific skill set to be able to be a leadoff hitter. But my message for him will be to show up with that attitude every single day."
The Rangers have two options for the top spot in Martin and Shin-Soo Choo, who was the club's primary leadoff man last season before he got hurt. Choo was better at getting on base (.340) than Martin (.325) despite having a down offensive year. Choo's lifetime on-base numbers (.383) is more than 50 points higher than Martin's (.316). But Martin has the ability to make more happen when he's on the bases as he's surpassed 30 steals in each of the last two seasons.
He'd like to make that three-straight years and he spent his time in the offseason working on his baserunning, with getting better leads a focus. He had 31 steals last season but was also thrown out 12 times.
"I need to do a better job on my jump this year," Martin said. "Many times they threw me out. I worked so hard to do something different."
While Martin knows there's no guarantee he'll win the job as the leadoff hitter, he's confident he can get the job done if given the opportunity.
"I've been a leadoff man my entire career," he said "I'm ready. I want to show I can help my team, get on base and try to score runs."
Banister stressed the importance of the leadoff hitter because he sets the tone for the offense to start the game. He also knows that Choo can hit anywhere in a lineup.
"Choo has a skillset to be able to hit in a lot of different locations in a lineup," Banister. "Your leadoff man only leads off to start the game. There's more to it than just leading off an inning."
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