Texas Rangers Spring Training Notebook: 'Rangers All-Access' First Episode Drops On YouTube

The first episode of Rangers All-Access drops on YouTube, and Crowding the Plate tries Ono Hawaiian BBQ before the Texas Rangers played their first spring training road game on Monday.

SURPRISE, Ariz. — If, for some reason, you're struggling to get pumped for the Texas Rangers 2024 season, the club released quite the hype video Monday morning.

The first episode of Rangers All-Access dropped on YouTube, and it's, as the kids like to say, lit.

Do they still say lit?

Anyway, the series is scheduled to run through spring training up to the Rangers' season opener against the Chicago Cubs on March 28 at Globe Life Field.

The first episode, titled "Back In Arizona," runs just under nine minutes and takes a strong cue from HBO's "Hard Knocks," the NFL's behind-the-scenes documentary series that features a different team each season. There are no credits listed at the end of the first episode, which includes a narrator, player interviews, and plenty of cool footage from a four-person camera crew of the players arriving at the club's Surprise, Ariz., spring training complex.

The episode begins with footage of the final out of the Rangers' Game 5 World Series clincher with radio voice Eric Nadel's "You're not dreaming!" call. 

It includes behind-closed-doors footage of general manager Chris Young and manager Bruce Bochy addressing the team the morning of the first full-squad workout last week.

"Last year, for me, was just the start of what we're going to do as an organization," Young said to the team on Feb. 19. "The talent in this room is as good as any major league team out there."

Quotables

"If I could adopt any pitch, it'd probably be [Nathan Eovaldi's splitter]. He's able to throw it to righties and lefties, and it's been so effective for him. And it's just a really harder pitch for him to play off of his fastball going in [to batters]." — Rangers pitcher Cole Winn on a teammate's pitch he'd most like to have

Crowding the Plate

Ono Hawaiian BBQ :: Stefan Stevenson/FanNation, Inside the Rangers

Before covering the Rangers' first road spring training game against the Chicago White Sox at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz., I needed lunch. I always need lunch.

Ono Hawaiian BBQ, is a family-owned chain started in Honolulu in 1976. There is a location a mile from Camelback Ranch, which the White Sox share with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Most of the 200-plus locations are in California and Arizona, including 20 in the Phoenix area. Phoenix is as west as they've gone.

This is a fast-casual restaurant, sort of a Boston Market, Hawaii-style. I ordered the crispy shrimp and Hawaiian BBQ chicken combo meal, which comes with white rice and macaroni salad. Hawaii's version of BBQ is nothing like Texas-style barbecue, so keep that in mind. The grilled boneless and skinless chicken comes thinly sliced and marinated with a sweet Hawaiian BBQ sauce. It was super moist and paired perfectly with the white rice, especially drenched in one of Ono's signature sauces. The four fried shrimp were on the larger side but were a little dry. The macaroni salad was the sleeper. It's loaded with dense, creamy flavor and diced carrots, which at least gives the elusion of eating healthy. 

Their marinades and sauces are scratch-made with fresh ingredients, and each meal is made to order.

On its website, the restaurant says, "We aim to combine the culture and 'Aloha' spirit of Hawaii into our restaurants to bring a taste of the islands."

Whether they pull that off is debatable, but I'll come back for their chicken ... and that macaroni salad.

The shrimp and Hawaiian BBQ chicken combo at Ono Hawaiian BBQ in Glendale, Ariz :: Stefan Stevenson/FanNation, Inside the Rangers

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