3 Texas Rangers Prospects Most Likely to Emerge as September Call-Ups

The Texas Rangers have all but accepted their fate – playoffs are probably off the table for 2022. While they certainly haven’t been eliminated yet, and there’s still much baseball to be played over the next seven weeks, the eyes are set on 2023 and beyond. If you ask me, this year more than anything symbolizes what the Rangers are trying to prioritize going forward: creating, not buying their future stars.

Yes, the club opened up the pocketbooks for a star-studded middle infield. However, one of the most criminally misunderstood aspects of the Rangers direction as a franchise is that many fans of other teams believe Texas shelled out $500 million hoping two players would fix its losing woes. This could not be any more fundamentally incorrect – they brought in Semien and Seager to anchor an emergence of a farm system that has been completely revamped, while veteran guys like Brad Miller, Charlie Culberson, and Kole Calhoun have been given plenty of opportunities.

The last four months have been frustrating at many points for a fan base hungry for a return to October baseball, but they have provided us with the emergence of many young Rangers players who could be key contributors for years to come. Jonah Heim has emerged as one of the best catchers in baseball, both with the glove and the bat. Leody Taveras has completely transformed his game as a reliable run producer with great athleticism. Cole Ragans has looked (mostly) pretty great in his first couple of starts. There are more examples, but the larger point is that the organization is prioritizing a structure around their prospects – prospects who now have a chance to showcase their talents during the final month of the year.

Hence, we have finally reached the point in the season where teams have a clearer picture of where they’ll be in October and how they can utilize the two extra roster spots in September to best suit their needs, thanks to the MLB’s September Call-Up rule. The Texas Rangers have been staunch in vocalizing their desires: They intend to compete for (and in) the playoffs in 2023. So who are the last two pieces of the youth puzzle this year that should get a month of Major League service time and possibly chip in to those plans?

3 Texas Rangers prospects that could be called up in September

There are three guys that I think each have their own case and bring specific benefits in their hypothetical call-ups.

3 Texas Rangers prospects that could be called up in September

#3 – Yerry Rodriguez (RHP)

It pains me to not put Cole Winn on this list, but he’s had such a dismal 2022 campaign and completely lost the momentum he carried into the season from last year. But I wanted to include a pitcher, and other than Winn and Alexy (who is already on the pro roster), Yerry’s…. pretty much the only other option?

Rodriguez is a perplexing case. He’s had an elbow injury, a PED suspension, and a transition from starter to reliever over the course of his minor league career. He currently serves as a late-innings setup guy for the AAA Express, and he still hasn’t quite proven that he has shut down stuff. However, Rodriguez has only allowed a home run in one of his 19 appearances since June 7, and he had a stretch across June where he went 8 innings of work without giving up an earned run. He’s been a Ranger since 2015, so at some point you’d like to see a real stride in progression. His walk rate is not good by any stretch and he has command issues that reinforce the issue. The potential is there, though, as Yerry earned Reliever of the Month honors from the club in June for allowing a .125/.222/.250 slash line from his opponents and posting a 1.54 ERA.

I hate to boil it down to something as remedial as this, but man, the Rangers bullpen has been shaky and unstable at best this year, and a call-up for Rodriguez as a “show me what you’ve got” type of deal could end up as a fruitful experiment! I don’t know that Yerry has the stuff to last long in the pros, or maybe he does and just hasn’t sunk his feet in as a reliever yet. The pitches are powerful – he can gun it close to 100 MPH. That in itself is good enough to sustain at the pros, but if he’s going to get some light work out of the pen in September, he’ll need to really hone in on locking in his location.

3 Texas Rangers prospects that could be called up in September

#1 – Josh Jung (3B)

Third base is a position the Rangers have sorely lacked production from since the retirement of *literally* one of the best ever at the corner, Adrian Beltre. Jung soared through the minors after a glorified career at Texas Tech, raking at the plate and playing adequately enough on defense. He was projected by many to be the Opening Day third baseman in 2022, or at the very least be one of the first regular season call-ups. Then he tore the labrum in his shoulder early in the year and needed a summers’ worth of rehab.

Thankfully, it doesn’t look like he’s missed a step. As of August 14, he’s slashing .353/.421/.824 with two home runs, two walks, and 14 total bases in 19 plate appearances. Sure, that’s not much of a sample size to work with, but Jung has accumulated about a full Major League’s season’s worth of playing time through three years in the minors, and in 134 games (588 ABs), he’s registered 26 homers, 100 runs batted in, and a slash line of .319/.393/.550. He’s a slugger.

However, he’s a slugger who turns 25 in February, and it would be justifiable to say the clock is starting to tick to get him set up at the hot corner. There is no reason to start him out at Round Rock next year, and service time shouldn’t be much of an issue at this point given his age. He is one of the most, if not THE most Major League ready bat in the farm at the moment. Between Smith, Duran, and Culberson, there is enough shuffling around to be done to give Jung a taste of what the position demands at the pro level.

Once again, Texas has a severe need for stability at third base. The list of players Woodward has tried out at the corner since 2019 is staggering; Culberson, Holt, Gallo, Cabrera, Kiner-Falefa, Ibanez, Miller, Duran, Smith. There’s more, but you get the point. The Rangers require a third baseman, badly. The middle infield is locked up for a while and Nathaniel Lowe is a greatly productive hitter who can continue to improve defensively and round out the infield. Jung has enjoyed an accolade-laden career before even taking a professional at-bat. The Rangers have a massive stake in him as a centerpiece of the new era here, and it behooves both parties to give him some playing time in September.