Injuries in rearview, Calhoun eyes big '22

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- For the last two seasons, Willie Calhoun has worn a C-flap batting helmet.

He thought in 2020 that switching to it would allow him to stay on top of the plate and continue doing what he was good at -- eliminating all pitches and driving the ball to all parts of the field.

It did the exact opposite. The C-flap almost served to remind him of why he wore it in the first place. Calhoun has notably required surgery twice for getting hit by pitches, once in the face that fractured his jaw during Spring Training in 2020 and again on the forearm that fractured it in the middle of last season.

“I kind of got off the plate the last two years, and I'm not wearing C-flap anymore, so I feel like that was a big thing for me,” Calhoun said. “I just told myself that I was going to be able to go back to staying on top of the plate and go back to that approach that I've been hitting with my whole life. The last few years, I've been so off the plate and stuff because ... I wouldn’t say I was timid or scared, but I mean, in a way, I was. Especially after I got hit in the arm. But this year, I'm going right back to [hitting] on top of the plate -- how I used to do it.”

Calhoun described the change as feeling “free” at the plate and being able to use his hands up and through the zone.

In a small sample size, it seems to be working for him. In Monday’s marathon 25-12 win over Cleveland, Calhoun went 4-for-4 with two doubles. He was the first Texas batter to record as many as four hits in an exhibition match since Rougned Odor went 4-for-4 with three home runs in 2016.

The biggest piece of progress was that two of his hits came against left-handed pitchers. Because of the potential for an arm-side miss as a left-handed hitter, Calhoun has struggled in such matchups over the last two years.

“He comes to the plate against a guy throwing 95 from the left side, he stood right on top of home plate as he used to and said ‘I don't care if I get hit, I can't worry about that anymore,’” said Rangers manager Chris Woodward. “So he took a 95 mph fastball up in the zone and then waffled it to center field. It’s a lot of fun, and he’s in a good place right now.”

Calhoun -- along with new hitting coaches Donnie Ecker and Tim Hyers -- is hoping to reinvigorate his presence at the plate, as he most likely will fill a designated hitter role with the Rangers this season.

Calhoun was coming up through the Dodgers’ farm system when Hyers was an assistant hitting coach with the big league staff in 2016. That familiarity has helped Calhoun in this shortened Spring Training with a new coaching staff.

“[Tim is] happy telling me that staying on top of the plate is a good idea,” Calhoun said. “With Donnie, we have a pretty good plan right now going into place. Usually, I just don't think when I go up there and hit. But having him reiterate to me like, ‘You have to stay in your lane and be stubborn in your lane,’ gives me that refocus when I get into the box. So just doing that and being able to kind of stay on those pitches is what I’m going to continue to do.”

Calhoun emphasized that his 4-for-4 day at the plate, along with the first week and a half of camp, has been a step in the right direction after two years of what Woodward noted was a “roller coaster” ride for him with the Rangers.

Calhoun was one the centerpieces of the Yu Darvish trade in 2017, but he has been hampered by injuries. In ‘22, he’s coming in healthy with something to prove.

“He never really got a chance to get his feet under him from a performance standpoint,” Woodward said. “I've seen a lot of maturity from him. But I still want to see more, if that makes sense. I just encourage him to keep going, keep improving, keep getting better in every way. Eat, [get] better sleep, better workouts, do all those things that we've challenged him on from Day One. And he responded.”