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Everything is finally set up for Willie Calhoun, and the Rangers will give him the chance to earn his spot

After numerous hurdles, Calhoun is finally back in the Rangers’ lineup with the chance to stay there.

ARLINGTON — It was 3:30 a.m. in Austin on Wednesday morning. Willie Calhoun’s flight to the Texas capital had been delayed for four hours. And when he finally landed and collected his five bags, he found out the rental car office was closed.

It’s been a long road for Calhoun to get back to being healthy and in a good mental head space with the Rangers. A hit-by-pitch in the face, multiple other injuries and a lot of personal problems have plagued him over the last 15 months.

And now, to cap it all off, there was an epic travel nightmare.

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“I feel like all that’s behind me now,” Calhoun said, speaking about some of the most important struggles of the last year. “And I’m able to learn off of it, instead of looking at it as a negative. It was a bad year, but I’m trying to learn from it instead of harp on it.”

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Calhoun eventually got an Uber to Round Rock, where the Rangers’ alternate training site is located. He spent two days there before being called up on Saturday.

He joins a situation where he’s no longer a shoo-in as an everyday player and where his exact role is somewhat in flux. Calhoun beat the shift twice in a 2-for-4 night on Saturday. He had a pinch-hit single in the eighth Sunday.

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What comes next, though, is still somewhat unclear.

“Whenever I’m in the lineup, I’m going to have to go in there and be ready whenever my name is called,” Calhoun said. “So I don’t look at it as a bad thing.”

Manager Chris Woodward is committed to getting Calhoun a lot of at-bats. Given the Rangers’ defensive options in the outfield, it’s likely Calhoun will mostly be used as a designated hitter.

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Calhoun did, though, make an incredible diving catch to start the 10th inning Sunday after subbing in late as a pinch hitter.

“He’s in a good spot right now,” Woodward said. “I know last year was a really tough year for him for a number of reasons, for him personally. … It was a maturity test. Everything he had to go through last year kind of set him up for this year to be able to handle it a little better.”

Calhoun said publicly in the waning days of the 2020 season that he needed to take a break. He said he spent the offseason in California, where he grew up. He went to the beach often, he said.

He also spoke daily with his best friend, Alex Verdugo, an outfielder on the Red Sox. The two came up in the minor leagues together and talk basically every day about hitting.

One of the biggest changes Calhoun wanted to make was on display in his first game: using the whole field. Calhoun felt like in 2020 he was beholden to repeating the performance he had in 2019 when he crushed 21 homers in 83 games.

“[Verdugo’s] seen my swing ever since 2015,” Calhoun said. “And yeah, those are some of the things I’ve worked on, and I’m happy I saw it in play.”

At 26, Calhoun is still young, and he’s shown he can be productive. A hamstring injury in the middle of last year’s short season along with a groin injury this spring have set him back.

But he feels better. And he said he’s no longer anxious in the batter’s box against lefty pitching. That had been a byproduct of the gruesome hit-by-pitch he suffered last spring.

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So everything is set up for Calhoun to do well. The Rangers are putting him in a position where he can prove it.

“I’m excited,” Calhoun said. “And I’m happy.”

Briefly: Woodward said lefty Kolby Allard could replace Wes Benjamin’s spot as a tandem starter behind Jordan Lyles. Allard was hardly used in the first 11 days of the season but has been perfect in his last two outings, including three spotless innings Friday. ... Woodward said LF David Dahl is back to 100 percent after dealing with a calf issue last week.

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