Texas Rangers: Three prospects to call up in September

RHP Demarcus Evans

The fact that Demarcus Evans still hasn’t made it to the Rangers active roster this season is a bit of a surprise. The hard-throwing right hander looked to be one of the first in line to get a look when the season started but has had to wait while others like Kyle Cody, John King and Wes Benjamin seemingly jumped him in the pecking order.

Evans joined a long list of fast moving relievers in the Rangers’ system last season when he started the year with the club’s High-A affiliate Down East, before earning a Double-A promotion to Frisco. He was dominant at both levels with a 0.81 ERA with the High-A Wood Ducks in 22.1 innings before he finished off the year with a 0.96 ERA in 37.2 innings with the RoughRiders.

At nearly every stop in his minor league career Evans has racked up the strikeouts and did so again in 2019 with 100 strikeouts in 60 total innings. With a high powered fastball that regularly resides in the mid-90s alongside a plus curveball, Evans has the making of a late-inning reliever.

Holding Evans back perhaps is his struggles at time with command and he regularly sees his walk rate in the 5-6 per nine innings range. Still, opponents have shown little ability to generate consistent hits off of him and he hasn’t allowed a batting average against over .200 since the 2017 season while he was still in Rookie ball.

With where the Texas Rangers are headed this season, giving Evans a look in the bullpen seems like an obvious choice. He feels like the next pitching prospect to get a call up but that call hasn’t come yet. As the month of September rolls on, it’s likely we’ll see Evans at some point, and get a look at a possible option as the Rangers’ closer of the future.