Calhoun identified losing weight as his main offseason goal, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. He sees a drop in weight as one part of a plan to improve his defense and baserunning, areas of the game manager Jeff Banister cited as offseason projects for the outfielder.
Calhoun came to spring training at 215 pounds, heavier than the Rangers expected. That excess baggage may have set the tone for a season he acknowledged has been an “emotional roller coaster.” Calhoun wanted badly to make the major-league roster coming out of camp, but the Rangers were not impressed with his defense and baserunning and didn’t hit his way onto the season-opening roster. He sulked the first two months of the season at Triple-A Round Rock before a late-May benching adjusted his attitude, Banister said Calhoun’s weight was not a determining factor in the decision to send him to the minors for the start of the season, but cited the need for better defense and baserunning. “To play at this level, the improvements we talked about were on the defensive side, on baserunning and on overall decision-making,” Banister said. “To stay on the field here, you have to maintain a certain body strength level. Going into the offseason, that’s probably one of things we will talk about is continuing to strengthen his body.”
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