The Rangers have an off-day on Thursday as they get ready to head out west. Today, I thought we would review some of the top performers in the minor league system through the season's first month. We will start at Triple-A Round Rock and work our way down to Low-A Down East
Triple-A Round Rock
1. Cody Bradford
Bradford is not the first name you think of when it comes to Rangers minor league pitchers, but at this point in the season, he has put up the best numbers through the month of April and his first start in May. Bradford is 5-1 with a 1.07 ERA on the season. Those numbers earned him the Pacific Coast League April pitcher of the month. He has thrown 33 innings and has 30 strikeouts to 12 walks. He is allowing opponents to have a .149 batting average. He is not on the 40 man roster, but he has certainly put himself on the board to possibly see a call-up this season.
2. Justin Foscue
The 2020 first round pick made his Triple-A debut at the start of the season. He got off to a slow start, but has picked it up starting on April 14th. He had a three-hit night including his first home run in that game. Since then he has six multi-hit games and has added two more home runs to his total and 11 RBI's. Overall he has a .269 batting average, with an .855 OPS. He is an infield injury away from getting a callup. His most valuable role may be that of a trade piece to help the Rangers land bullpen help come July.
3. J.P Martinez
In spring training we talked about Cole Ragans being forgotten. Martinez is the overlooked man. Everyone is talking about Evan Carter making his debut at age 20, but Martinez is putting up just as good of numbers at a higher level. Martinez leads Round Rock in batting average, RBI's, and stolen bases. He is filling up the box score on a nightly basis. He has a .350 batting average, a 1.010 OPS, three home runs, and 17 RBI's. He also is showing patience at the plate as he has 20 strikeouts to 18 walks on the season. He is also 27 years old and so the Rangers might want to take a look at him first before giving Evan Carter a shot.