Texas Rangers Prospects: Sam Huff is once again destroying the baseball

It’s been a long road to recovery for Texas Rangers‘ No. 2 prospect, catcher Sam Huff.

The hulking backstop suffered a hamstring injury back in spring training and has been mostly sidelined since then. But a return to consistent action appears close for Huff, as he’s stationed with the AA Frisco RoughRiders.

The 23-year-old catcher is remembered by many Rangers fans for bursting onto the scene late in 2020, hitting three homers in 33 plate appearances over 10 games played that season. His OPS during that short span was an eye-popping 1.136.

Well, that trademark power which has made Huff a must-watch prospect has surfaced again in the minors.

First, it did so on a rehab assignment with the Arizona League Rangers several weeks ago, as the catcher demolished a baseball that travelled 500+ feet in distance.

Sam Huff is back to crushing baseballs in the Texas Rangers’ minor league ranks

There’s that 60 grade power!

And for an encore? How about a 495 foot blast for the RoughRiders on Wednesday night?

More from Nolan Writin'

• Framework for a potential Max Fried trade to the Texas Rangers
• Early 2023 MLB mock draft has Texas Rangers selecting an Ohtani-lite
• 3 Texas Rangers outfield trade targets not named Bryan Reynolds
• Did Jacob deGrom really mean what he said at his Texas Rangers press conference?
• Where do Texas Rangers prospects Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker stand after the DeGrom signing?

Holy smokes! (literally and figuratively).

The raw pop that Huff possesses is nothing short of tantalizing, but his defensive prowess isn’t quite at the level of his home run bat.

Part of the reason for Huff’s recent bad luck injury streak likely has to do with his huge, six-foot-five frame having to squat in a catcher’s position nightly. As you can imagine, there are questions about the 23-year-old’s long term viability behind the plate. However, his arm strength grades out decently, which is useful for gunning down attempted base stealers.

But there are absolutely no doubts about what his bat can bring to the table from a hard contact standpoint. In fact, the power in Huff’s bat is comparable to Joey Gallo, and that’s saying A LOT.

As the No. 2 prospect in the Texas Rangers’ system, expectations are certainly high for Sam Huff. And in a brief major league stint in 2020, he flashed some of his worldly potential.

Given the upside the big backstop has, it wouldn’t seem far-fetched for the Rangers to turn to a Huff-Heim tandem by the end of 2021, with momentum for that tandem to start in 2022 and into the future.