Below is an analysis of the expectations from the farm system of the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers. The inspection reports were compiled from information provided by industry sources and my own observations. This is the fourth year we've defined between two expected relief roles, the abbreviations of which you'll see in the “position” column below: MIRP for multi-inning relief pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning relief pitchers. The ETAs listed generally correspond to the year a player must be added to the 40-man roster to avoid becoming eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Manual adjustments are made where appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb.
A quick overview of what FV (Future Value) means can be found here. A more in-depth overview can be found here.
All prospects at the bottom level also appear on IBoard, a service that provides a site with editable evaluation information for the entire organization. It has more detail (and updated TrackMan data from various sources) than this article and includes individual team lists so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. It can be found here.
Other Opportunities for Awareness
Grouped by genre and listed in order of popularity within each category.
Rookie Level Words You Should Know
Jose De Jesus, OF
Antonis Macias, 2B
Andry Batista, WE
Pablo Guerrero, WE
Yolfran Castillo, SS
Angel Herrera, OF
De Jesus is a good attacking midfielder with decent, table-topping tools. Macias is a hitter, middle infielder who looks like he will end up in the 2B/3B spot on defense and have 45 power. Batista is my favorite of the many big-framed players, who appear to play on Texas' DSL team. He's 6-foot-4 and still growing into his body, but he has good baseball sense. He's hitting .190 right now, but he's really interesting. One of Vladdy Sr.'s boys, Guerrero is a 17-year-old power hitter who has already been promoted to the Complex League. He has a high risk of a tool and does not have an obvious position. Castillo is another DSL hitter but has less bat speed. He is a football player, though. Herrera, also in the DSL, is the 70th runner in center field.
Arrow Down Guys
Jesus Lopez, C
Ian Moller, C
Anthony Gutierrez, WE
Antoine Kelly, LHP
Ricky DeVito, RHP
Aaron Zavala, OF
Dustin Harris, 1B
Lopez and Moller play the leading role, and you want to keep those guys alive as long as prospects. Lopez was my Complex League favorite last year, but his tools have been supportive. Moller's issues in defense remain unchanged, but he still hits enough to hope they will improve. If you're a Rangers fan who's been following my updates on their program over the past few years, you probably know that I haven't been on Anthony Gutierrez during his lifetime as a prospect. I can definitely see why the Rangers and others are excited about him, but his length and hustle have kept him at this level of the roster throughout his career, and those things are starting to have a meaningful impact on his offensive performance. deep into full-season football. Kelly was a junior college pitcher who struggled to stay healthy during his time with the Brewers. He was traded to Texas as part of the Matt Bush trade for 2022 and except for 2023, when he first moved to the bullpen, his release feel was so overwhelming that he went for a hit per inning or more of his big pieces. work. He has good pitcher structure, unusual mid-90s left-handed arm strength, and a breaking slider. He was DFA'ed on Monday. The rest of the team has struggled for the better part of the last two years, especially those corner bats, and it's hard to consider the prospects if that's the case.
27th Types of Man
Josh Stephan, RHP
Jax Biggers, UTIL
Echedry Vargas, 2B
Blaine Crim, 1B
Stephan's items were very easy to make the main part of the list. He's a low slot pitchability fit for an east/west attack and he doesn't go with anyone in Double-A. Biggers have plus plate capabilities and a strong mid-barrel feel. He is limited to a high/low utility role (2B/3B/SS/LF) due to his 30-grade pop. I don't think Vargas has a shortstop arm, and his hustle will make it difficult for his offense to profile at second. I know his upside stats are good right now, but his upside isn't strong and neither is his tape. Crim's 2024 performance is down from his usually steady minor league production, but he's still hitting hard in Round Rock. The basic right-hitting profiles are solid, and Crim is often in this category of the Rangers' lineup even if he's scrambling. He can be a target of Asian pro team.
Weirds
Geisel Cepeda, OF
Chase Lee, RHP
Jackson Kelley, RHP
Arturo Disla, 1B
Cepeda is a well-built Cuban defender in his mid-20s who was very hard to beat. He hits for almost no power and his swing is very strange, but if he can get to the point where he gets more power, he could be a late breakout guy. Lee and Kelley are submariners. Disla was an undrafted free agent from an NAIA school who was sent to the DSL last year. He is a husky guy with great bat speed. It's great to see him swing so hard.
System Overview
With the top two guys on this list graduating, Texas' farm system is worse than average. Langford carries so much weight that his graduation alone is a huge blow to the program's exit. But if your big league team has Wyatt Langford, who cares? The Rocker/Porter draft probably wasn't a good idea, but it's not like realistic alternatives from 2022 are going to kill you. This program is very small for the hitters, so small that I think it should be a priority for the org in the next draft. I wonder if the Rangers can make a deadline deal if they want to without parting ways with the big league guys, because without Walcott, they don't have an impact player that can move.
The feeling in this organization has become much better. Many of these players are throwing hard, or have made significant changes to their stuff or delivery compared to last season. It will help ensure that this window of contention is not hampered by a lack of pitching depth. Deep down, this is a mediocre program. With the two outfielders having made it, the top tier is a little lighter.
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