The Texas Rangers had the best record in the American League in 2016. Could they find more help in the farm for 2017?
An Introduction
Our minor league top 10 series is coordinated by Benjamin Chase, one of our contributors at Call To The Pen.
He has poured over thousands of minor league games over the course of the year via milb.tv along with speaking with a number of team and independent scouts. These lists are based out of those conversations.
Each system will have prospects from 10 to 1, and then finish with one newcomer to the system that is worth keeping an eye on that is not in the top 10 at this time.
Conversations are certainly encouraged in the comments section on each system as we go along!
Right now (the Rangers’) biggest pieces are lower in the minors, but there’s some high upside talent there.
Rangers System Review
The Texas Rangers have built up a reputation as a team that has a wealth of Latin talent that consistently supports their major league team, and much of that talent was the result of the stellar work of former assistant GM A.J. Preller, who is now with San Diego as their GM.
The Rangers have continued to make waves in their amateur talent acquisition, though their 2016 draft and international picks have certainly left many in the industry scratching their heads.
In spite of all of that, the Rangers did have the best record in the American League in 2016, and they didn’t even have some of their best players all season due to injuries and unfortunate situations like the Prince Fielder forced retirement.
The Rangers did see some production (finally) from Jurickson Profar, who had been a highly regarded prospect for many years, but he battled through injuries, a new level of production from Rougned Odor, doubling his previous home run total, and Nomar Mazara come up as a rookie as an impact outfield bat.
The Rangers have signed a number of players this offseason to fill their holes, and that’s part in parcel due to using the pieces in their system that were close to the majors like Jake Thompson, Lewis Brinson, and others to acquire pieces to make their playoff runs recently.
Right now their biggest pieces are lower in the minors, but there’s some high upside talent there.
Let’s take a look at the top 10!
Next: #10