Jurickson Profar – Is He Due for a Promotion?

We’ve talked about Jurickson Profar before here on Nolan Writin, he continues to impress. Currently Profar is with the Hickory Crawdads the Texas Rangers Single-A affiliate. The Rangers have three affiliates at the Single-A level and Hickory is considered to be a Mid-A team.

This season Profar has really been on a tear. After 37 games he was batting .278 with a .401 On Base Percentage and an OPS of .950. You can really see his progression between this season and his last season with Low-A Spokane. His OBP is the biggest jump going from .323 to the .401 now a .078 difference.

Clearly the increased competition has not adversely affected the Rangers number two prospect, and he may be due for a promotion. Mike Olt has been crushing the ball with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (the High-A affiliate), and he may be ready for a trip to Frisco. The very same could be said for Joe Wieland both of whom we will profile later this week.

Despite Olt being a third baseman and Wieland being a pitcher, this would create the roster space to bring up Profar. I’m not saying that the 18 year old is ready for Frisco just yet, he has certainly outplayed his competition. The Myrtle Beach Pelicans would be a good fit for him.

Baseball America profiled the shortstop in their Prospect Hot Sheet and had this to say –

"Although he recorded just 15 official at-bats this week, Rangers SS Jurickson Profar certainly made the most of them. Profar hit .600/.700/1.133 (9-for-15) with three doubles, a triple and a homer for low Class A Hickory. The 18-year-old has already surpassed last year’s home run total (four) from short-season ball in barely more than half as many games, now batting .274/.401/.532 with five long balls on the year."

As an avid RoughRiders radio listener and fan…I cannot wait to see him make the jump to Frisco. The Rangers are also locks to be involved in mid-season trades, I’m terrified at the possibility that Profar would be the centerpiece for any big trade. Specifically a team like the Padres, if they plan on moving Heath Bell to the Rangers, I do not see a scenario where we wouldn’t have to give him up.

-Jonathan