ARLINGTON -- The Rangers made their first big move of the offseason well before the Winter Meetings, when they traded former All-Star second baseman Marcus Semien to the Mets in a one-for-one deal that netted them outfielder Brandon Nimmo on Nov. 24.
As the front office eyes various moves to add another catcher alongside Kyle Higashioka, as well as a number of relief pitchers to fill out the bullpen, new manager Skip Schumaker took stock of the roster as it stands on Day 1 of the Winter Meetings.
The acquisition of Nimmo gave the Rangers a clear outfield alignment with him alongside a pair of young talents in Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter. That was an obvious need after non-tendering Adolis García.
But with Semien shipped off to New York, the Rangers were then left with a hole at second base, where he had played nearly every day of his four years in Texas. The club has a number of internal options to play second base, including Josh Smith, Ezequiel Duran, Cody Freeman, Sam Haggerty and more.
That being said, it sounds like it’s Smith’s job to grab ahold of and secure.
“He's probably the most established Major Leaguer [of the internal options],” said president of baseball operations Chris Young. “Does that mean he's getting the first shot? I mean, you can make what you want. The player who comes into camp and earns the job will be the second baseman. But Smitty, the good version of him, I think it lends itself towards believing it's his job to win. But he's got to go do it.”
But what does Young mean by “the good version” of Smith?
The 2024 season was the first year of Smith’s big league career when he played more than 90 games, due to the injuries of Corey Seager and Josh Jung opening up more playing time for the utilityman. That year, he got off to a hot start before tapering off following the All-Star break.
History repeated itself in 2025.
2024
• First half (90 games): .293/.392/.469
• Second half (59 games): .215/.265/.300
2025
• First half (84 games): .277/.353/.416
• Second half (60 games): .208/.306/.286
“He is motivated to show that he's not only just a first-half guy,” Schumaker said of Smith. “He's doing what he can this offseason to get his body in a place where it can sustain 162 games. I also think there's a mental aspect to it as well. I don't think it's always physical with these guys that have second-half funks. I'm not saying this is Josh [specifically] -- but some guys do want to chase that number at the end.”
Smith has proven himself to be a more than serviceable utilityman who can play every position on the field at an average to above-average level. The next step for him would be providing quality offensive production across a full season.
“It's not a physical issue, in my mind,” Young said. “It's just sort of a mentality and approach and commitment to doing what it takes, which I believe Smitty can do. He's got to go earn it. That's our expectation. He's a really, really good player, but he's got to go do it for a full season. We'd love to see him go get it.”
General manager Ross Fenstermaker added that Smith has become a smarter and wiser player over the last two seasons, and they expect that to translate on the field in terms of improving his production across a full season.
All of that is not to say that the Rangers have named Smith the Opening Day second baseman on Dec. 8. It will be a wide open competition entering Spring Training. That’s not going to change.
“Again, Smith is in the mix, obviously,” Schumaker reiterated. “I think he's going to have a really good shot at it. We have internal options, there's no doubt. Now, is it a platoon? Is it an everyday situation? I don't really know what it looks like yet. But I do think we have a lot of options. It's going to be fun to see in spring how they come in and who really is hungry for that position and doesn't want to let it go.”