Texas Rangers: Three Spring Training Invitees to Watch in 2020

With Spring Training right around the corner, the Texas Rangers have invited plenty of young talents to join the big league club in Surprise, Arizona.

Pitchers and catchers report in just under two weeks time with Spring Training set to begin shortly thereafter. It’s been a busy offseason for the Texas Rangers thus far and there will be plenty of new faces on the big league roster to watch come spring. However, some of the most exciting names aren’t the secured big leaguers, but rather the young prospects that the Rangers have invited to big league camp.

1. Sam Huff – Catcher

Huff is by a fair margin the best prospect that the Texas Rangers have invited to participate in big league camp this spring. The 22-year old is the club’s top catching prospect and one of their best prospects overall landing on numerous Top 100 prospect lists including MLB Pipeline’s where he sits 74th in all of baseball.

Last season was a breakout campaign for Huff who quickly emerged as one of the best hitting catchers in the minors. He started the season with Single-A Hickory and lit up the South Atlantic League with 15 home runs in 30 games. His .335 average and 1.165 OPS earned him a quick promotion to High-A Down East. While the numbers weren’t quite as eye-popping at the next level, he still managed another 13 homers in 97 games. His .262 average is solid for a power hitting catcher but he does struggle with the strikeout racking up 154 in 127 games.

Huff isn’t a player we’re going to see in Arlington this season. He still needs plenty of polish and to show that he can continue hitting for power. With Down East his OPS was .751 which is lower than he would’ve wanted it. Despite his large frame he has shown an ability to work well with the glove behind the plate, a natural concern for someone his size. He may or may not stick behind the dish but his bat could play at a handful of positions.

3. Joe Barlow – Right-handed Pitcher

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. The Texas Rangers have a hard-throwing, right-handed reliever who has climbed quickly through the minor league system. Joe Barlow fits the bill of so many right-handed relievers that have popped up in the Rangers organization and is poised to show his stuff in big league camp this spring.

Surprisingly, Barlow, 24, was left off the 40-man roster this winter leaving him open to the Rule 5 draft. Even more surprisingly, he wasn’t taken, meaning he remained with the Rangers organization which was a pleasant surprise to the club. He wasn’t left off for a lack of talent as much as Texas had a ton of Rule 5 players this offseason they had to add to the 40-man to protect and with limited space, Barlow missed out.

Barlow joined Demarcus Evans, Emmanuel Clase and Peter Fairbanks as right-handed relievers that impressed mightily in the minors last season, the latter two building up their value enough to be used as trade assets. Barlow started the 2019 season in High-A throwing 23.2 innings in relief for the Wood Ducks. He struck out 44 hitters at that level and posted a 0.38 ERA which got him quickly moved to Frisco. At the Double-A level, Barlow continued to impress making 13 appearances and striking out 27 across 16 innings. After 30 appearances across those two levels, Barlow moved to Triple-A Nashville where he hit some struggles. He threw 17.1 innings across 19 relief outings and had an 8.83 ERA. However his strikeout rate remained impressive at 11.42 per nine innings and his FIP of 5.64 painted a slightly prettier picture.

Barlow is actually a player that could get to the big leagues this season as the Rangers are sure to continue their rotation of young big league relievers. He should start the season with Triple-A where he’ll look to fair better than he did in 2019 and continue his ascent up the organizational ladder.