Ranking Rangers. 13 comments


Baseball Propectus released its annual Top 101 Prospects list for 2019. Four Rangers made it.

Leody Taveras, outfielder, at 47.
Bubba Thompson, outfielder, at 48.
Juan Pablo Martinez, outfielder, at 78.
Anderson Tejada, shortstop, at 83.

Interestingly, none of the overabundance of pitching the Rangers have been obsessing on acquiring made it.

Putting it into prospective, here is where the Rangers fall within their division:

Houston, 5 prospects: numbers 7, 14, 46, 49, and 80.
Los Angeles, 5: 2, 56, 68, 94, 99.
Oakland, 4: 13, 77, 95, 101.
Texas, 4: 47, 48, 78, 83.
Seattle, 2: 50, 63.

Tampa Bay had the most top-ranked prospects in the American League, with seven, followed by the Chicago White Sox with 6. Toronto had 4 (including number 1). Everyone else in the A. L. had fewer than four.

The future looks bright if you’re a Padres fan or a Braves fan. San Diego has nine players in the top 101, Atlanta has eight. The Braves won their division with a great young team, and appears to be only getting stronger. The Padres are usually always horrible so maybe there is a window of hope for them.

After those two teams, the next-most in the N. L. are the Dodgers, fresh off two consecutive World Series appearances, with four, and the Reds, fresh off five consecutive last-place finishes, also with four.

Only one team didn’t have a single player make the Top 101 Prospects list: Boston.

Proving once again that prospects are cool, but championships are cooler.

Prospects fade. Flags are forever.