Texas Rangers among the big winners of inaugural MLB Draft Lottery

Another year, another high first-round draft selection for the Texas Rangers!

MLB held its inaugural Draft lottery on Tuesday night at the 2022 Winter Meetings in San Diego, with each non-playoff team being entered in for a chance to come away with the ultimate prize: the first overall pick. But while the Rangers and their 5.5% odds didn’t up with that result (the Pittsburgh Pirates did), Texas did pretty well for themselves all things considered.

Texas Rangers win big at the inaugural MLB Draft Lottery by securing the fourth overall selection

Locking in a third consecutive top-five pick will provide yet another boost to an already loaded farm system in Arlington. The last two years saw the Texas Rangers select Jack Leiter (2021) and Kumar Rocker (2022) with their first-round selections. Both of those prospects are considered high-impact talents, and the Rangers will now have the opportunity to add an additional prospect of significance next summer.

Under the old format, Texas would’ve been projected to pick seventh overall coming off a 68-94. That means moving up three spots, including leapfrogging division rival and AL West cellar dweller Oakland picking at sixth overall, is a massive win for the Rangers.

This also has a chance to affect Texas’ remaining off-season strategy, as Chris Young and the front office may feel more comfortable surrendering more draft picks to sign free agents with a Qualifying Offer attached to them. Having a top-five overall selection in your back pocket is extremely helpful in this regard.

What a day at the Winter Meetings for the Texas Rangers, who first were able to ink lefty Andrew Heaney to a two-year contract to help bolster their rotation, followed by the great news at the Draft lotttery. Things seem to be coming up Texas right now, and we can only hope the positive momentum continues on.