Texas Rangers: Established Core, Top Prospects Destined for Greatness?

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ARLINGTON, TX – APRIL 3: Hunter Pence #24 of the Texas Rangers is given a Powerade bath by teammates Elvis Andrus #1, left, and Rougned Odor #12 at Globe Life Park in Arlington on April 3, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers defeated the Houston Astros 4-0. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) /

The Texas Rangers rebuild is going swimmingly through the first 7 games. This strong performance has us dreaming of what the future holds.

The Texas Rangers are off to a fantastic start to the 2019 season, much better than most of us probably anticipated. Sitting at 5-2, the way the club is winning games is probably the bright spot that outshines even the back-to-back series wins. The core is what is getting the job done this year for the Major League club which means this rebuild is going exactly the way we hoped.

With the core performing so well we can dream about the collision course for greatness the club could be headed towards when the top pitching prospects find their way to Arlington.

ARLINGTON, TX – MARCH 31: Joey Gallo #13 of the Texas Rangers runs in to score and celebrates with his team mates to end the game against the Chicago Cubs at Globe Life Park in Arlington on March 31, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Rick Yeatts/Getty Images) /

The Established Core

The core of the Rangers future is already in Arlington and has been for a number of years. Still, they’re so young, they will be the cornerstones of this club’s long-term future and with the way they’re performing so far this season, it seems like the future is more than bright.

Let’s run through who I believe is the established long-term core for the club and what their contract situations are moving forward. Working youngest to oldest…

Nomar Mazara (24) – signed thru 2019; arbitration thru 2021
Ronald Guzman (24) – signed thru 2019; arbitration thru 2023
Isiah Kiner-Falefa (24) – signed thru 2019; arbitration thru 2023
Jose Leclerc (25) – signed thru 2022; team option for 2023 & 2024
Joey Gallo (25) – signed thru 2019; arbitration thru 2022
Rougned Odor (25) – signed thru 2022; team option for 2023
Elvis Andrus (30) – opt out after 2019; signed thru 2022; vesting option for 2023
Mike Minor (31) – signed thru 2020
Lance Lynn (32) – signed thru 2021

Clearly, the core of this team has plenty of years left in Arlington. Mike Minor and Lance Lynn, while they may not be part of the young core, figure to be long term parts of the Rangers pitching staff due to their contracts. But this list doesn’t even include guys like Delino DeShields, Jeffrey Springs or Yohander Mendez who have plenty of team control left themselves.

When you look at that group, it should strike you how young and talented the core of the big league club in Arlington is right now. On that list, you see two starting outfielders, three infielders, your future catcher, two starters and a lockdown closer. In terms of building blocks, that’s about as good as it can get and gives you the foundation to which you start adding top prospects to fill out your roster.

ARLINGTON, TX – JUNE 16: (L-R) Bubba Thompson from McGill-Toolen High School, Chris Seise out of West Orange High School and right-handed pitcher Hans Crouse out of Dana Hills High School pose for a photo after the Texas Rangers announced the signings of several of the club’s top selections in the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft at Globe Life Park in Arlington on June 16, 2017 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

Future Impact Options

With a core of established players already filling out a lot of the key pieces, we can shift our attention to those future players who are sure to have an impact at the big league level. These young players will slot in where the club has holes and needs and potentially put this team over the top in terms of competitiveness.

Having already looked at the contracts of those core big league players, the Rangers have prospects who aren’t far away from making their mark in Arlington and where they rank in our Texas Rangers Top Prospects list.

AAA Nashville

LHP Taylor Hearn (10), INF Eli White (12), LHP CD Pelham (17), OF Willie Calhoun (NR), OF Carlos Tocci (NR), C Jose Trevino (NR), RHP Ariel Jurado (NR), RHP Brett Martin (NR), RHP Ronald Herrera (NR)

AA Frisco

LHP Brock Burke (6), LHP Joe Palumbo (7), RHP Jonathan Hernandez (9), RHP Wei-Chieh Huang (NR), C Josh Morgan (NR)

A+ Down East

OF Bubba Thompson (3), OF Leody Taveras (4), INF Anderson Tejada (8), RHP Tyler Phillips (14), RHP AJ Alexy (20, RHP Demarcus Evans (22), RHP Michael Matuella (NR), INF Diosbel Arias (NR), 1B Tyreque Reed (NR), OF Eric Jenkins (NR)

A Hickory

RHP Hans Crouse (1), OF JP Martinez (2), SS Chris Seise (15), 3B Jonathan Ornelas (18), OF Pedro Gonzalez (19), C Sam Huff (NR), 3B Sherten Apostel (NR)

For fear of just listing out the roster of every minor league team in the organization, I’ll stop there. Hopefully, though, that gives a good picture of what this system holds in terms of top talent. Not every single one of these players will make it to the bigs and some of those that do won’t make it in Arlington. However, at the top of the system, we see pitchers that while they may not be “ranked” prospects, seem to have the potential to be impact players.

Drop down into Down East and Hickory and you see where the best players in the Rangers system lie. Plenty of hard-throwing pitchers and athletic fielders open up a world of possibilities for the future.

ARLINGTON, TX – APRIL 1: Ronald Guzman #11 and Isiah Kiner-Falefa #9 of the Texas Rangers celebrate after Guzman’s solo home run against the Houston Astros during the third inning at Globe Life Park in Arlington on April 1, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) /

What Does This Mean?

While predicting baseball is a bit of a science, it’s definitely not an exact one. Players get hurt or regress while others take the world by storm out of nowhere. However, if you look at how the core of this club is formed and then extrapolate out that a portion of the current prospects will be impact players, you come to the conclusion of a fairly successful future roster. Obviously outside help will be needed, still the past couple of seasons really have been a masterful job of securing the future of the team by the front office.

The next few years will see waves of young players making their way to what will be the newly opened Globe Life Field and making their mark on the club and the fans. Texas has the ability to continue to develop a core that should be hitting their primes right when the cavalry of young talent arrives to the battlefield that is Major League Baseball.

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