Keith Law Rates Texas Rangers' Farm System as 17th-Best in MLB
If you read our top 10 rankings for Texas Rangers prospects heading into the 2020 season here at Inside Texas Rangers on SI.com, you undoubtedly know that the team here is high on Texas' top tier prospects, highlighted by Sam Huff, Josh Jung and Hans Crouse.
However, The Athletic's Keith Law — formerly of ESPN and once a scout for the Toronto Blue Jays — is much lower on Texas' minor league system.
In his latest prospect piece for The Athletic (subscription required), Law took a shot at ranking all 30 MLB team's systems. The rankings only consider players currently in the system and eligible for the rankings, meaning they have not yet lost rookie status.
While Law handed out the No. 1 spot to the Tampa Bay Rays, the Rangers had to wait all the way until No. 17 to crack Law's list. Here's what Law had to say about Texas' system.
"Texas has a lot of guys you’d like to have, but perhaps not a lot of guys you’d go out of your way to trade for, although they certainly have some players in Category 1 who might get to Category 2. They tried some things on the pitching side that have not worked out, with a rash of Tommy John surgeries in the past year-plus that stands out even in an industry that seems to treat them like they’re paper cuts. There’s a lot of untapped athleticism in the system as well."
-Keith Law, The Athletic
While the Tommy John surgeries part is fair, I think it's a little unjust to say Texas doesn't have many guys teams would go out of their way to trade for. Guys like Sam Huff and Josh Jung are high-level prospects that are near-MLB ready and are projected as high-impact guys. Same for Hans Crouse and Cole Winn, who project as front-end starters in the Majors.
Outside of Texas, A.L. West foes Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics and the Houston Astros were spread out throughout Law's rankings. Seattle came in with the highest ranking at 11 overall. The Angels slotted in right behind Texas at No. 18, while the A's and Astros came in at No. 26 and 27 for Law.
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