Rangers Pitching Prospect Has Bruce Bochy's Attention
The Texas Rangers have plenty of high-level pitching prospects in their minor-league system.
First-year Rangers manager Bruce Bochy is getting to know them one by one. He’s watched each of the Rangers’ first-round picks from the last two years pitch — Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker. He got eyes on another highly-touted pitching prospect, Owen White, throw in the Spring Training opener on Friday.
But on Thursday he was asked which prospects had impressed him so far in camp. Conscious of not leaving anyone out, he tried to dance around the question.
But one name that many Rangers fans might not expect slipped out of Bochy’s mouth.
“There’s a guy some don’t know about, Marc Church,” Bochy said. “He’s been really impressive, but I don’t want to leave anybody out.”
So who is Marc Church?
Well, he's the pitcher that gave up the walk-off home run against the Royals on Friday, an auspicious start to his spring. But he’ll get another chance anchoring the pitching lineup Sunday against the Cleveland Guardians.
Church was on the lower end of the Rangers’ Top 30 prospects, as ranked by MLB.com, when last season ended. He’s seen as a potential closer candidate down the line, but he spent last year splitting time between High Class-A Hickory and Double-A Frisco.
He went 3-5 with a 4.22 ERA, making 37 appearances, with five saves and six holds. Impressively, he struck out 78 and walked 14 in 49 innings. But he also gave up 11 home runs and allowed opponents to hit .245 against him.
That could be part of the reason he was ranked No. 28 overall at season’s end.
The reality is that he’s only played two years of professional baseball, even though the Rangers drafted him in 2019 in the 18th round. He also played shortstop in high school and didn’t convert to being a pitcher until the summer before his senior year, after he threw 90 mph to win a bet.
Another Rangers pitcher made the conversion from infielder to pitcher, albeit in college — Jacob deGrom. He did the same thing at Stetson.
Church isn’t a candidate for the Rangers’ Major League roster, but he could work his way into a place at Triple-A Round Rock at some point in 2023.
After all, the skipper is impressed.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
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