Rangers Farm System Ranked By ESPN
A day after The Athletic released its Major League Baseball system rankings, ESPN did the same thing. How much did the Texas Rangers’ rankings differ?
Honestly? Not much. While The Athletic had the Rangers at No. 7 overall, ESPN had the Rangers at No. 8.
ESPN used a system created at FanGraphs that used a formula to reveal empirical surplus dollar values for each future value tier of prospect.
The Rangers system had a dollar value of $230.5 million. While the Rangers’ overall dollar value fell from last year’s $250 million, the organization as a whole rose two spots from No. 10.
The Rangers are fascinating because they seem to be the only organization building a contender this way. Their system has been among the deepest in terms of pure prospects for years, developing some higher variance players into top 100 quality of late while continuing to add to the depth. The Rangers haven't traded away many prospects because their big league focus has been getting better almost entirely through spending unprecedented amounts in free agency right as these prospects start to show up. GM Chris Young has taken over the reins from Jon Daniels, and they're approaching the first CBT threshold as a playoff contender with a top-10 system. I think this is working, but 2023 should give a much clearer signal.
In the past couple of weeks, individual players have been honored as Top 100 prospects by ESPN and by MLB.com.
ESPN.com ranked three Rangers prospects among its Top 100. Those Rangers were outfielder Evan Carter, third baseman Josh Jung and pitcher Owen White.
Jung made his Major League debut last year and the Rangers expect him to be their starting third baseman.
MLB.com unveiled its Top 100 prospect list last week. That list included Carter, Jung and White, along with infielder Luisangel Acuña, pitcher Jack Leiter and pitcher Brock Porter.
Jung, White, and Acuña are on the 40-man roster and will be in Surprise when Spring Training begins later this month. Carter and Leiter are non-roster invitees to Major League camp, while Porter is headed for minor-league camp.
Pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training to the team’s facility in Surprise, Ariz., on Feb. 15, with position players to follow by Feb. 20.
The Spring Training game schedule starts on Feb. 24 with a game against Kansas City at the Surprise complex shared with the Royals.
The Rangers wrap up their exhibition season with a pair of games at Globe Life Field against the Royals on March 27 and 28. The Rangers open up the regular season at home against Philadelphia on March 30.
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