Every non-roster invitee and up-and-coming prospect each spring almost always says that his goal is to make the big-league club's Opening Day roster even in the smallest role on the team.
When a player is promoted from the minor leagues, the hope is that he stays in the majors for the long haul even if he doesn't play for weeks at a time.
Then, there's Jurickson Profar.
While with Triple-A Round Rock in May, Profar was asked if he would be OK joining the Texas Rangers' roster but play only a couple times a week. He said no.
While serving as Rougned Odor's fill-in during the suspension for clocking Jose Bautista, Profar said that he would rather head back to Triple A to play every day than be stuck on the Rangers' bench once Odor was sprung from baseball jail.
Maybe Profar's desire to play was born from the two seasons his missed because of injury, or maybe from the inconsistent playing time he received during his rookie season in 2013.
Up until his first full season with the Rangers, all Profar had done was play every day.
He's playing regularly now and figures to be a lineup fixture the rest of the season after injuries to Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo Choo. Profar isn't happy that injuries have led to his bump in playing time, but he's happy to be playing.
"This team, we're in first place, and I'm playing," said Profar, who is only 23. "I'm playing a lot. Even the days I don't play, it's OK because I understand the situation. We have a lot of good players here, and we are a team and we're trying to accomplish something _ the World Series."
Profar entered the Rangers off day Thursday having played in 37 of 42 games since June 30, with 30 starts. The Rangers have played 74 games since he was recalled to replace Odor, and Profar has played 64 and started 57.
With Choo injured, Profar is likely to handle leadoff duties against right-handed pitchers, as he did Tuesday and is likely to do in the first two games of a three-game series at Tampa Bay.
He has had to move around to get his playing time, logging his first career games at first base and his first playing time in left field since 2013. He has played all four infield spots and also has started a handful of games at designated hitter.
While at times he hasn't looked like a veteran first baseman, he said that he is better off for the experience.
"It's good for my mind," Profar said. "First base is not my position and neither is left field, so when I play there, I focus every pitch. That's going to help me with my all-around baseball. In baseball, you can't just take a pitch off when you're hitting or fielding."
The super utility role is something he was force fed as a rookie, when he batted .234 in 85 games, and the experience wasn't as enjoyable as it has been this season. Profar is older now, more mature, and has a better understanding of how to handle it and prepare for it.
With Fielder not returning next season and with the possibility that Mitch Moreland heads elsewhere in free agency, Profar might be an everyday super utility player in 2017 in the same vein as Josh Harrison with Pittsburgh or Ben Zobrist with all four teams in his career.
"It's reassuring them the importance of it," manager Jeff Banister said. "Given the fact that he's missed two years of baseball, I didn't have to sell it real hard. When you love to play the game and you haven't played it for two years, you scratch, fight and claw and do just about anything you can to be on a field. He's done that."
In a perfect world, Profar said that he will be an everyday player at one position. That one position, shortstop, is occupied. His second choice, second base, is, too. Without a trade of shortstop Elvis Andrus or second baseman Rougned Odor or Profar to another club, the super utility role in which he rotates positions game to game might be his only way to play every day.
"I don't know," Profar said. "This year, we're trying to win the whole thing, so I'm happy with it. For next year, I always say I want to focus more on one thing."
In the meantime, Profar will try to get on base as one of the options for replacing Choo atop the lineup. A 6-for-48 skid the past 13 games has dropped his average to .262.
"The hits are not there yet, but I feel great," he said.
Profar also feels great about his playing time, at least for this season.
