With just two and a half weeks until Opening Day, it’s getting down to crunch-time for most drafts. If you haven’t had the pleasure of drafting yet, then consider yourself lucky as there are still a number of position battles that have yet to be decided. We’ve covered most, if not all, over the last few weeks, so it’s time to re-visit and see which ones may be settled or, at the least, which way they’re leaning. We’ll start here with the American League and will tackle the NL in the next piece.

Baltimore Orioles Second Base

After a 16-homer season but a putrid .209 average last year, Jonathan Schoop was still the incumbent walking into camp this year. But then the Orioles signed Everth Cabrera and with J.J. Hardy locked in at short, there was concern that he would push Schoop for work at second. But lately Cabrera has been shagging fly balls in the outfield giving credence to the belief that he would be serving more as a utility player. Despite the fact that Schoop is batting just .192 (5-for-26) this spring, he still seems to be the guy the team wants at the keystone. Advantage: Schoop

Tampa Bay Rays Right Field

When we first noted this situation, there wasn’t much of a battle here as Steven Souza was slated to be the starter in right field. While that hasn’t changed, the situation in the Rays’ outfield is a little different with Desmond Jennings moving over to left field with Kevin Kiermaier playing center. But that now leaves Brandon Guyer, who is recovering from an oblique injury, as a fourth outfielder capable of supplanting any one of the three guys. Souza is just 3-for-24 (.125) this spring so he better start to pick it up if he wants to hold down the gig. Advantage: Souza

Tampa Bay Rays Closer

With Jake McGee out through most of April, the Rays were expected to turn to Brad Boxberger for ninth-inning work. That plan seems to still be in place, but now that Kevin Jepsen has matched his three scoreless innings with three of his own and Grant Balfour is back from visiting his ailing father in Australia, the job could be up for grabs with whoever is throwing the best coming out of March. So long as Boxberger doesn’t have a complete meltdown, the job should be his come Opening Day, but he’s definitely going to be looking over his shoulder. Advantage: Boxberger

Boston Red Sox Center Field

This has been a hot topic since manager John Farrell came out and said that Shane Victorino, when healthy, would be his starting right fielder. He’s already got Hanley Ramirez in left which means that Rusney Castillo (fresh off an oblique injury) and Mookie Betts will be fighting it out for the starting nod in center. Allen Craig and Jackie Bradley don’t seem to even be in the conversation. Castillo will return to spring games this coming weekend, but with Betts batting .462 (12-for-26) with four doubles so far, it looks like Castillo could open the year as the fourth outfielder. Technically though, the job is still open. Advantage: Betts

 

Boston Red Sox Closer

Walking into the spring, Koji Uehara still had the job, but many were concerned regarding the health of his shoulder. Well, that hasn’t been much of an issue this spring, the shoulder that is, but his health is still creating concerns. Right now, it’s a hamstring problem and the Sox are being extremely cautious and shutting him down until he’s back to 100-percent. Farrell won’t make any rash decisions, but Edward Mujica is looking like a guy you want on your radar.  Advantage: Uehara

Chicago White Sox Second Base

Walking into spring training, the White Sox were hoping Carlos Sanchez was ready to take the next step but signed Emilio Bonifacio to serve as a super-utility player and insurance policy in case Sanchez wasn’t ready. One would assume that with Sanchez batting .278 (5-for-18) with a .350 OBP this spring and Bonifacio just 2-for-22 (.091) that the decision would be simple, but in walks Micah Johnson who is currently batting .444 (12-for-27) with one home run, five RBI and a stolen base and is getting more than just a look as the starter. Don’t elevate too high just yet as there’s plenty more spring action to go, but for now… Advantage: Johnson

Houston Astros Third Base

The Astros seemed primed to give Matt Dominguez the third base job once again, but then later acquired Luis Valbuena from the Cubs. Given Valbuena’s versatility, it looked like he would fill a utility slot, but so far this spring, he’s looking sharp at the hot corner and batting .455 (10-for-22) this spring. Meanwhile, Dominguez has been seen taking grounders at first base and is 5-for-21 (.238) so far. In his favor, he’s only struck out once, but he’s starting to look more like a reserve corner infielder right now. Advantage: Valbuena

Los Angeles Angels Second Base

The Angles planned on a four-man audition this spring with Josh Rutledge, Grant Green Johnny Giavotella and Taylor Featherston competing for the job. Featherston hasn’t played above Double-A so he was easily the long shot here and Giavotella had failed to crack the Royals lineup in three seasons. That leaves it at Green vs Rutledge and so far, they’re neck and neck. Green got off to a slow start but is now batting .304 (7-for-23) but has nine strikeouts. Rutledge is currently batting just .226 (7-for-31) with eight strikeouts and seems to have the edge. Of course, let’s see what happens when his defense starts giving Mike Scioscia fits. Advantage: Rutledge

Minnesota Twins Center Field

With Danny Santana slated to start at shortstop, the Twins have been auditioning Aaron Hiucks and Jordan Schafer for the starting center field job. Granted, both are really just keeping the spot warm for Byron Buxton, but he still seems to be far enough off that we should be focusing on Hicks and Schafer. Right now, Hicks is batting .313 (5-for-16) with four walks to four strikeouts and two stolen bases, but mental mistakes on the bases and in the field are starting to piss off manager Paul Molitor. Schafer is batting just .235 (4-for-17) and has now been caught stealing in three out of his four attempts. That’s not making Molitor too happy either. Eddie Rosario recently jumped into the mix as well, but he hasn’t played above Double-A yet and looks like he could use some added seasoning. Advantage: None

Seattle Mariners Shortstop

What started out as Brad Miller versus Chris Taylor is now probably our first resolved position battle of the spring. Taylor was killing it with a .421 average (8-for-19) with a double, two triples, one home run and four RBI, but a broken bone in his wrist has put him on the shelf for four-to-six weeks and he’s now expected to miss almost all of April. Miller was no slouch himself as he is currently batting .389 (7-for-18) with a pair of home runs and three walks to three strikeouts. With players like Rickie Weeks and Willie Bloomquist on the roster, Taylor will likely land in Triple-A when he’s healthy again. Winner: Miller

 

Texas Rangers Left Field

With Michael Choice recently optioned to Triple-A, it looks like the battle for left field is coming down to Jake Smolinski, Ryan Rua and Ryan Ludwick. The race seems fairly close at this time, though Smolinski, who is batting .364 (8-for-22) with a home run and three walks, might have a bit of an edge here thanks to his experience with the Rangers. Ludwick is obviously the most seasoned vet, but he struggles against left-handed pitching and right now looks like he’d have trouble hitting his way out of a paper bag. Rua is batting just .241 right now (7-for-29) but his biggest issue is the eight strikeouts. He doesn’t appear to have the patience or plate discipline at the moment thought that could eventually change. Advantage: Smolinski

Toronto Blue Jays Designated Hitter

If push came to shove, one would think manager John Gibbons would simply leave it as a standard lefty/righty platoon. Danny Valencia kills lefties and Justin Smoak would handle the right-handers. But then what happens to the switch-hitting Dioner Navarro? The Blue Jays aren’t likely to carry all three unless they consider Navarro the back-up catcher and send Josh Thole down to Triple-A. But even if that is the case, you still have three guys competing for at-bats at the DH slot. Navarro is having the strongest spring at the plate, batting .353 (6-for-17) while Smoak is just 2-for-25 (.080) and Valencia sits in the middle with a .278 average (5-for-18). That, and the ability to play catcher, could give him [Navarro] a slight edge at the moment, but since the at-bats should stay relatively even through the end of spring we simply won’t know until Gibbons decides on the exact make-up of his roster. Advantage: Navarro/Valencia

 

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