[Griever20]

Confidential: Prospect Report, October 8th, 2020

I know that everybody is waiting anxiously for the AL Wild Card game, but still, here is the prospect report for the end of the season.

Greetings
Logan White
Scouting Director Texas Rangers

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Pitching:

Close to the majors: AAA RHSP Pauly Milto(23, 1.5/2.5*), AAA RHSP Hans Crouse(21, 1.5/3*, #32 prospect(-2)), AAA RHSP A.J. Alexy(21, 1.5/2.5*), AAA RHSP Casey Mize(1.5/3.5*, #82 prospect), AAA SP Luis Ortiz(23, 2/2.5*), AAA RHRL Alex Speas(22, 2/3*)

Others: R RHSP Matthew Allen(18, 0.5/2.5*, #7 prospect(-2)), A RHSP Freddie Jones(21, 0.5/1.5*, #65 prospect), INT LHSP Jorge Anjo(16, 3*, #15 prospect)

Dropped out: AA LHSP Thomas Szapucki, R SP Justin Campbell

We certainly are in a position of strength when it comes to AAA rotation as any of the kids has potential. Yes, some of it is fringe and I included those 2.5* potential kids and Ortiz here just to prove a point... if you want to pull off a trade, you can easily throw one, or two of our starting pitchers in and it won't hurt us. Just... don't trade Crouse or Mize from that group.

Yes, I'm slowly warming on Allan. He was 3-2 with a 3.64ERA in rookie ball and looked genuinely fine, and more importantly, his control and movement have improved. Apart from that, the OSA is very hot on our 13th rounder in Freddie Jones who looked decent in A ball, and we may have found a gem in Jorge Anjo in Venezuela. The kid may become a middle of the order workhorse starter, but with a kid as young as that, the sky could be the limit. I won't give a 16-year old starter a 4.5* potential like the OSA guys tho.

Oh yes, and Szapucki is out of the list as you probably expected. Torn labrum, out for nine months, and he is 24 and stuck in AA. Could be the end of the road.

Catcher:

Close to the majors: none

Others: AA C Patrick Bailey(21, 0.5/4*), A+ C Edgardo Rodriguez(19, 0.5/3*), R C Raymond Torres(20, 0.5/4*)

Dropped out: none

So, our first rounder this year has held his ground in A+ but struggled in 9 games in AA ball, and Baseball America dropped him out of the Top 100 prospects...(We have no hitting prospect in the top 100 anymore...).

Pushing Rodriguez down to A+ was a good idea has he hit .267-6-39 .732OPS and looked like he learned a lot, and Raymond Torres looks like he could make a leap in to A ball next year as he hit .316-4-31 .859OPS in the Arizona Rookie League.


Infield:

Close to the majors: SS Chris Seise(21, 2/3*)

Others: AAA 2B Richie Palacios(22, 0.5/2.5*), A+ 2B Derwin Barreto(20, 0.5/2.5*), A 2B Matt McLain(20, 0.5/2.5*), R 2B Sean Mendoza(20, 0.5/3*), R 1B Braedon Mooris(18, 0.5/3*), R SS Sandy A. Richardson(18, 0.5/3*)

Dropped out: 3B Anderson A. Tejeda

Chris Seise is most definitely ready for the majors, batting .317-4-69 .752OPS in 132 games, going 28/38 in the stolen base department. He can give Castellanos a run for his money and would be a better backup than Estrada... but we are still not forced to put him on the 40-man. Your call.

As for the others... we have cooled a bit on a number of those, and on the other hand still, we see potential in our 2020 draft class in the low minors. Apart from Palacios who hit .273-10-45 .756OPS in AAA and should be able to make the jump in the "Close to the Majors" category, there is a lot of maybes here.

Outfield:

Close to the majors: AAA CF Cole Brannen(22, 2/3.5*)

Others: R CF Tyler Williams(20, 0.5/4*)

Dropped out: none

We did not really add someone in the draft to bolster our depth here, and Brannen looks like he could compete at the MLB level next year. He hit .286-7-51 .778OPS with 34/44SB and good defense and could be our fourth/fifth outfielder, pushing Calhoun off the 25-man roster... but similar to Seise, we can also keep him in the minors and off the 40-man for another year.

As for Williams, our 3rd rounder in 2019, I think it is time to start him in A ball next year. He hit .268-3-18 .849OPS in 47 games down in Arizona and he also defended well.

Overall, I think we improved our farm system in the draft, mostly with Bailey and some of the infielders, and we got us a very interesting arm in Jorge Anjo even though he cost us $4.5M. It will be very interesting to see how a lot of the kids develop in Winter Ball and in minor league camp.