SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Rangers first baseman Chris Davis is intent on bouncing back in 2010. He talked at length about what he's done this offseason and why he feels good about things right now. Here goes:

Q: Talk about where your confidence is entering this season.

A: I’m as confident as I’ve always been. I feel like I’ve done the right things this offseason to get myself prepared. I didn’t really want to take time off because I was doing some things in my swing that I wasn’t completely comfortable with yet. I wanted to hammer those down. Strength-wise, I feel as good as I have in a long time. That’s not just lifting weights, but also baseball strength.

Q: What swing things were you working on to try to get comfortable?

A: A lot of it was based on what we did last year at the end of the season. I made some changes in my stance, spreading out more. I’m also lowering my hands. I’ve always pulled my hands even with my chest and my hands were so high that I wasn’t able to get them where they needed to be. That caused me to rush everything and I didn’t have enough time to get them where they needed to be. The biggest thing this offseason was repeating the drills. I’m starting my hands closer to where they need to be. It’s more quiet. I was reiterating that with drills to get a feel for that.

Q: Did you make adjustment through the hitting zone?

A: I think one of the things I lost sight of last year was my bat path. It was real up and down. It was hit or miss. If they threw it in the right location at the right time, I was going to hit it. If they didn’t, I wasn’t going to have a prayer. That’s why I was swinging and missing a lot of balls or fouling them off. We didn’t address that until later in the season. You always start from the ground up on hitting mechanics. We felt like that was in a good position and it came down to my head and hands. My bat path was horrible. It’s been flattened out so I can keep it more consistent to and through the zone.

Q: Are you focused less on hitting home runs and more on average?

A: I think the big thing for me at the end of last season was the emphasis on not worrying about hitting home runs. I think I give myself a better shot to hit more home runs if I put the ball in play a lot more and if I make better contact. But the big thing for me when I came back up was to see if I could be more consistent making contact, swinging at better pitches, having better at-bats and hitting with two strikes. I think I accomplished that. I was happy about hitting with two strikes at the end of the season. I choked up a little bit. Even with two strikes, I felt like I could hit the ball out, but in reality you’re trying to put the ball in play. Choking up gives me some more bat control and some more room to work with if I offer at a pitch, I can hold back. It’s only going to benefit me. If I have a quality at-bat, the numbers will take care of themselves and the production will take care of itself.