Texas Rangers Call Up Top 100 Prospect Sam Huff

The Texas Rangers made a move on Thursday to call up one of their most highly touted prospects, Sam Huff, who will be looking to make his big league debut.

The steady stream of prospects making the jump to the Majors for the Texas Rangers continued on Thursday with the club announcing that top catching prospect, Sam Huff, was being promoted. Huff, considered a Top 100 prospect in the league by MLB Pipeline, is one of the most anticipated and highly touted talents in the Rangers’ organization.

Huff’s promotion comes in response to an injury to Jose Trevino on Wednesday night which caused him to exit the game early. While Trevino’s X-rays were negative and he has not been placed on the IL, the Rangers only had one catcher on their active roster who was healthy in veteran Jeff Mathis.

The idea of promoting Huff as a fill-in for Trevino was presented to manager Chris Woodward following Wednesday’s 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels. Woodward acknowledged that at the time that was a possibility and noted that if Huff was called up, he would be with the team to play and not purely just as an insurance policy.

The catcher joins a growing list of Rangers’ looking to make their big league debut during the 2020 season. A number of those players have also made the intriguing jump from High-A level to the Majors with Anderson Tejeda, John King and Kyle Cody all skipping two minor league levels on their way to Arlington this year.

Huff doesn’t fit the mold of a prototypical catcher with much of that attributed to his large 6’5″, 240 pound frame that creates a large backstop. Despite his frame, Huff has shown an ability to be at least average behind the plate and has an above average arm. The tantalizing skillset for Huff though comes not from what he does behind the plate but his potential at it. The 22-year old features elite raw power and despite some swing and miss issues, still has shown an ability to hit for average in the minors.

In 2019, Huff split time between the Rangers two Class-A affiliates, Hickory and Down East, combining for a .278 average in 127 games. He also hit a combined 28 home runs with an .844 OPS between both stops. With the Wood Ducks, the High-A club for Texas, Huff hit .262 in 97 games with 13 homers and a .751 OPS.

All eyes will be on Huff when he does get a chance to debut for the Texas Rangers although that will likely have to wait until at least Friday with Jeff Mathis getting the starting nod at catcher for the Rangers final game against the Angels. With Huff’s promotion, Texas has now had five of their MLB Pipeline Top 30 Prospects on the active roster this season with the potential to see more on the horizon.