Texas Rangers First Round Draft Picks: Where are They Now Part 1

With the MLB draft coming up, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the Texas Rangers first round draft picks over the last 10 years or so and see how many of them have stuck with the Rangers or even stuck in the league.

2003: John Danks – the Texas Ranger took the Austin, Texas native in the first round of the 2003 draft with the number 9 pick overall. Danks never made it to the majors with the Texas Rangers, but of course he did when Nick Massett, Jacob Rasner and Danks were traded to the White Sox for Brandon McCarthy (that trade worked out great, for the Sox). Danks has gone on to have quite a successful major league career.

2004: Thomas Diamond and Eric Hurley – I remember hearing about the tenth and thirtieth picks overall a whole lot when they first came out. They were supposed to  be the next great Texas Rangers hot shot pitchers. Hurley made it to the majors with the Rangers for a very short period of time, and Diamond never did. Diamond did make it to the majors with the Cubs, however both he and Hurley are now out of baseball.

2005: John Mayberry, Jr. – Mayberry worked his way up the Texas Rangers ranks during his time with the club before he caught the eye of the Phillies. In 2008, the Rangers and Phillies swapped Mayberry for Greg Golson. Mayberry has made it to the majors with the Phillies and has had quite a successful major league career.

2006: Kasey Kiker – The Texas Rangers selected Kasey Kiker with the twelfth over all pick in ’06, and he never really panned out for the ball club. Kiker made his way slowly through the farm system and wound up playing independent league ball in 2012. He never made it to the majors. Kiker had a career ERA in the minors of 4.71.

2007: Blake Bevan, Michael Main, Julio Borbon, Neil Ramirez and Tommy Hunter – The Texas Rangers pretty much cleaned up in the first round of the 2007 draft, having that many picks. As we all know, Bevan is not a pitcher in the Mariners organization, traded to the M’s for Cliff Lee, Tommy Hunter spent a few season with the Texas Rangers before being traded to the Orioles for Koji Uehara. Julio Borbon is now with the Cubs, Main was delt to the Giants in 2010 for Molina and Neil Rameriez is also a Cub. So, they all worked out pretty well for other teams.

I’ll finish the list later this week!