Players who helped themselves the most in spring training

We have reached the end of spring training, and as such, teams are finalizing their rosters and figuring out who's going to don those crisp white or gray uniforms on Opening Day. There will be the usual suspects who had their roster spots on lock, and there also will be some head-scratchers of choices. Then there are those who have tried their best to play their way onto rosters and probably succeeded in doing so.

With that said, we have to start with the Rangers and a familiar face who wasn't sure if he'd start the season in the big leagues. Hunter Pence signed a minor league deal with Texas after falling out of favor with the Giants following an underwhelming couple of seasons. He entered spring training fighting for his job, and he was clearly up for the challenge. 

By the tail end of spring training, Pence had a slash line of .314/.386/.588 with three home runs. Of course, you have to take all spring training stats with a big grain of salt, but it wasn't like Pence was beating up on just lower-league talent. While the competition may not have been as fierce when you consider that the Rangers are probably not going too far this year, it was still nice to see the veteran reach back and give it all he had to cement his spot on the roster.

On the other side of the spectrum, you have Carter Kieboom. While he's already been assigned to the minors to start the season, Kieboom made it clear that he might not be too far from making it to the big leagues. He got to Double-A last season, and while he was still a long shot to make it to the majors coming out of spring training, he made his presence felt at the plate. 

Kieboom showed off some impressive plate discipline and had a huge two-homer game against the Astros. This wasn't just a random multi-dinger day in Florida, either — both of those homers came off Justin Verlander. The younger brother Spencer Kieboom won't join his older brother right out of the gate, but don't be shocked if he's playing for the Washington Nationals in the near future.

While it may not be Carter Kieboom's time yet, the big leagues are absolutely on the imminent horizon for Padres prospect Chris Paddack. He finished last season at the Double-A level, but Paddack came into Padres camp with an outside shot of making the big leagues. He had a strong spring training, and it was indeed good enough to get him into the Padres rotation for 2019. He produced some solid stats against a strong level of competition as well. If you put up a 14.2 SO/9 combined with a paltry 1.4 BB/9, you're doing pretty well for yourself, and clearly the Padres believe Paddack is ready to take on the National League.

One of the most interesting cases has to be the spring saga of Jason Hammel. As Pence was fighting for a roster spot on the Rangers, Hammel was doing the same thing in an effort to join the Texas pitching staff. While he didn't set spring training on fire, Hammel probably did enough to be considered for a role with the Rangers this season. 

However, Hammel also went into the season with the idea of "boom or bust," meaning that if he wasn't certain he was going to make the team, he would retire. Despite his spring training effort, he abruptly decided to call it quits. Although he was clearly hinting at ending his career, it was still a shock since he had a decent spring. Sometimes players just know when it's time to finish things, and clearly Hammel felt this was the end of the line.

With the clear exception of Hammel, it'll be interesting to see how these guys fare in the upcoming season. Will Pence continue to play his way into the hearts and minds of Rangers fans? Will Kieboom start booming balls out of major league ballparks? Will Paddack prove to be yet another case of the Padres fleecing a team out of young talent? We'll have to wait and see, but it'll be fun to follow these storylines as the season gets underway.