It's been a couple of years now since Robinson Chirinos came out of nowhere to become the Texas Rangers' catcher.
Now, he's hoping to become the Rangers' catcher.
Last season, Chirinos took a back seat to Chris Gimenez in terms of being Cole Hamels' preferred catcher. It was the same with Yu Darvish in 2014, as Darvish preferred to throw to his own personal catcher. Chirinos caught Darvish four times in a total of 17 1/3 innings.
With Hamels, it wasn't an issue of not being the preferred guy but instead the fact Chirinos was injured when the Rangers got Hamels from Philadelphia. Hamels threw to Gimenez and when Chirinos returned, Hamels had a nice comfort level with Gimenez.
Rangers manager Jeff Banister said he isn't an opponent of the personal catcher idea, but he does want Chirinos and Gimenez to be comfortable catching anyone on the staff.
"In spring training, those guys will be able to catch everybody, form those relationships and gain knowledge," Banister told the Dallas Morning News. "I feel confident that they'll be comfortable with all of our guys."
