Texas Rangers Prospects: Help is on the way as big names progress

On Friday, the Texas Rangers played the Chicago White Sox in game two of a four games series at Globe Life Field.

Glenn Otto took the mound for the Rangers in this one and pitched a solid outing as he was able to control the White Sox offense for the majority of the game. Prior to this outing, Otto came into this game by going 4-7 with a 5.50 ERA and 57 strikeouts on the season. Obviously not the type of performance that you want to have during the course of the season.

During the game, Otto was able keep the White Sox offense limited as he went six innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs and one walk while striking out seven on 97 pitches (65 for strikes) as the Rangers fell 2-1 to the White Sox in yet another one run loss.

I’m pretty sure everyone is tired of the “one-run” losses the Texas Rangers keep piling on in the season but let’s face it, they aren’t anywhere near in contention for a playoff spot, so, they should allow others a chance to get a taste of the big leagues to see what they can provide for the team.

Texas Rangers have prospect help on the way

We’ve already seen a couple of debuts this season, including Ezequiel Duran, Josh Smith among others. More recently, the Rangers called up Bubba Thompson and Cole Ragans to see what they can provide for the team.

In Ragans’ first career start, he pitched a solid outing for the Rangers as he went 5 innings, allowing three hits, one run, zero earned runs, and four walks while striking out three on 93 pitches (55 for strikes). In Thompson’s first ever game in the big leagues (also the same game that Ragans pitched in), he went 1-for-3 as he picked up his first career hit on a bunt in the seventh inning. Thompson played in Friday’s game in which he went 1-for-4 but picked up two stolen bases in the 2-1 loss.

The future is bright for the Texas Rangers despite this season not going the way everyone expected it to go, but you have to be hopeful about what Texas are doing. The Rangers drafted Josh Jung in 2019 MLB draft, the following year,  they drafted Jack Leiter and the year after that in 2021, they drafted Kumar Rocker and Brock Porter. The Rangers are absolutely loaded with talent in the farm system.

Most notably, Aaron Zavala has been catching fire on the Frisco RoughRiders, as he has been playing some good baseball lately. He’s been gaining some traction in terms of who fans want to see be called up next.

Top position player prospect Josh Jung is slowly but surely working himself back onto the field as he recovers from his surgery. Jung has been playing baseball in the Arizona Complex League (ACL) and hit a home run (his second of the season) in his seventh game of the season. If Jung can finish the rest of the season healthy then we will most likely see him at Globe Life Field next season.

Jack Leiter is currently in Double-A with the Frisco RoughRiders and is trying to finish his first professional season. Leiter pitched Friday against the Amarillo Sod Poodles (Double-A Affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks) in Frisco. In the game, Leiter started the game really well by picking up three quick strikeouts in three innings. However, things got a little bumpy for him as the hits, runs and walks started to pile up. Leiter would finish the game by going 5 innings, allowing four hits, three runs (three earned), three walks and four strikeouts on 89 pitches (51 strikes) as the RoughRiders won 6-5 for their sixth straight win.

So far on the season, in 17 games pitched, Leiter is 3-8 with a 5.77 ERA while striking out 72 in 64 innings pitched. Not the type of numbers that we were accustomed to seeing while he was at Vanderbilt, but he’s developing with each start in Frisco. We will most likely see Leiter at Globe Life Field sometime in 2023.

Think about the players that I just mentioned, and there’s plenty of more prospects that are playing well and are having a good season in the Rangers farm system that I didn’t include. The Texas Rangers are loaded with talent!

The Rangers have one of the best farm systems in baseball and, again, that’s without Kumar Rocker and Brock Porter, who they just drafted. Help is on the way! You have to be really excited to see what the Rangers have done in the past couple of seasons. Yes, it’s tough watching the them struggle, yes it’s miserable seeing them lose so many one-run games, but the Rangers will get better and they will be back soon.

They’ll be the Rangers that were competing for the division, winning playoff games, series..etc. The Rangers will get through this season and they will go into the off-season, looking to be aggressive and improve the roster (specifically pitching), while potentially earning yet another solid first round pick for next year’s MLB Draft. The pain and misery will soon be over, but progress is clearly being made to correct that.

The Texas Rangers are in a good position, with a loaded farm system and with money to spend in Free Agency, but the most intriguing thing is that they are a YOUNG team. The Rangers are in a better situation than a lot of other MLB teams right now even though it doesn’t seem like it.

You have to feel better about the future of the Texas Rangers, because all we have to do is get through this miserable season healthy. Soon, this team will be back to where they once were, competing for a playoff spot.