Rangers Top 30 Prospects Wraps: Avery Weems
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InsidetheRangers.com will review each of the Texas Rangers’ Top 30 prospects, as ranked by MLB.com at the end of the 2022 season.
No. 23: P Avery Weems, Frisco RoughRiders (Double-A)
Statistics for 2022: Weems went 2-6 with a 5.14 ERA in 26 games (17 starts). He threw 91 innings, gave up 96 hits, 62 runs (56 earned), 14 home runs and 32 walked. He struck out 107. Opponents hit .262 against him and he had a 1.41 WHIP.
Season Transactions: The Rangers assigned Weems to the Frisco RoughRiders on March 31.
Season Summary: Weems had four years of college experience when he moved to pro baseball and had spent three years in the minors when the Rangers promoted him to Double-A. He had an awful start, as he ERA hovered over 7.00 until mid-June. He put together a sparkling July, going 1-1 with a 2.41 ERA. He did nearly the same in September, finishing with a 3.52 ERA.
Path Through the Organization: The Chicago White Sox drafted him in the sixth round of the 2019 Draft and signed him for $10,000, despite Weems’ 6.46 ERA in his final two seasons of college ball at the University of Arizona. The Rangers acquired him when they traded pitcher Lance Lynn to the Chicago White Sox (the Rangers also got current starter Dane Dunning). Weems spent 2021 at High Class-A Hickory and, despite a losing record and a plus-five ERA, the Rangers moved him to Frisco in 2022.
What’s next: The Rangers are probably reaching a point of decision on Weems. Is he a starter? Is he a reliever? Is he an asset to be traded? He’s never going to have top-end fastball speed, but he’s known for quality off-speed offerings, and that has value, especially when you consider Weems is a left-hander. He’s as likely to be in the organization next season — most likely at Double-A — as he is to be packaged in a deal to get starting pitching for Rangers.
2022 Texas Rangers Top 30 Prospect Wraps:
No. 30: Josh Stephan | No. 29: Mason Englert | No. 28: Marc Church | No. 27: Danyer Cueva | No. 26: Alejandro Osuna | No. 25: Zak Kent | No. 24: Dane Acker
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
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