Samuel Nicholas Huff…led Arizona high schoolers with 14 home runs as a senior at Arcadia HS in Phoenix, earning a spot on the Arizona Republic’s All-Arizona boys baseball team…was named the 140th-best prospect in the 2016 MLB Draft by Baseball America…father, Steve, was selected by San Francisco in the 7th round of the 1976 MLB January draft…originally committed to play baseball at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix…enjoys training at parents’ house in Arizona, where his father built a batting cage when he was younger…claims the pitching machine he bought to use in the cage was the “best purchase \[he\] ever made."
2023
Posted a .256/.289/.512/.801 (11-43) slash line with three HR, two 2B, and six RBI over 21 G for TEX after starting the year with Round Rock (AAA)…made seven starts at DH and three starts at C… was first recalled from Round Rock on 5/9, beginning the first of his four separate stints with the Rangers in 2023: 5/9-16, 6/14- 29, 7/22-8/12, 9/1-18…batted .357 (5-14) in eight games at Globe Life Field, compared to .207 (6-29) in 13 road contests…went just three for his first 23 over first 12 G (5 GS) at MLB level thru 7/30 before notching career-high-tying three-hit game on 8/2 vs. CWS (3x, last 5/17/22 vs. LAA)…batted .400 (8-20) with two HR, two 2B and four RBI over final nine G (5 GS) spent with big league club from 8/2-9/17…hit first HR on 7/26 at HOU (eighth career, first since 9/29/22 at SEA), which traveled 443 feet, T8th-longest HR hit by a Ranger in 2023…homered on the only pitch he saw on 9/2 vs. MIN, becoming just the second player in Washington/Texas history to start a game and homer in his lone PA before exiting; the other: LHP Don Rudolph on 9/2/63 at CLE-G1 (solo HR off Jack Kralick)…was not on Texas’ Postseason roster...Spent the balance of the 2023 campaign with Triple-A Round Rock, slashing .298/.399/.548/.947 (81-272) with 17 HR, 17 2B, 67 RBI, and 44 BB in 68 G/GS (58-C, 10- DH) for the Express…established minor league career bests in both strikeout pct. (24.3%; prev. 24.8% in 2016) and walk rate (tied, 13.7%; also 2016)…ranked among TEX farmhands in HR (8th) and RBI (T9th)…threw out 14 of 47 attempted base stealers (29.8%), a slight uptick from his 29.2% figure (14-48) with Round Rock in 2022…hit .341 (45-132) in 32 game at home, compared to .257 (36-140) in 36 road games, yet 13 of his 17 AAA HR came on the road…recorded a career-high 10- game hit streak from 4/21-5/5…batted .483/.559/.862/1.421 (14-29) with two HR and 12 RBI over final seven G before Triple-A All-Star Game…drove in career-high 7 runs and hit pair of longballs on 7/2 at LV, one of two multi-HR games on the season (5/3 at RNO)…has launched 15+ HR in each of his last five Minor League seasons.
2022
25 starts at catcher were 2nd-most on club to Jonah Heim (102)...appeared in career-high 44 games across four stints with Texas (4/28-5/1, 5/10-6/20, 7/11-16, 9/5-end of season), batting .240/.303/.372/.675 (29-121) with 4 HR and 10 RBI...threw out three of 26 (11.5%) attempted base stealers from behind the plate, but also saw action in starts at DH (4) and 1B (3)…had hits in each of first five and 10 of first 14 G with Rangers at .386 (17-44) before going 3-for-33 (.091) over next 16 G...recalled from Round Rock (AAA) for final time on 9/5 and batted .205/.300/.455/.755 (9- 44) with three HR over 14 G to close the season…career-high 3 hits on 5/17 vs. LAA (2nd time)…had hits in 15 straight MLB starts 9/18/20-5/28/22…reached base career-high four times on 6/1 vs. TB (HR, 2B, 2 BB), his 1st career game with multiple walks...became first Ranger to ever have 4+ K’s and have IBB in the same game on 7/12 vs. OAK...HR on 9/24 vs. CLE was just 7th HR ever hit off RHP Emmanuel Clase…posted 8.3% walk rate and 31.8% strikeout rate, which were nearly identical to his Triple-A BB (9.1%) and SO (31.0%) rates...swung at the first pitch in 47.3% of PA, which would have been the fourth-highest first-pitch swing pct. in MLB if he qualified...according to Statcast, his average exit velo. from Sept.-end of season (93.8 mph) was significantly higher than his avg. exit velo. from April-Aug. (86.0 mph)...ROUND ROCK: Spent balance of the season at Triple-A Round Rock, where he slashed .260/.336/.533/.868 (64-246) with team-high 21 HR and 50 RBI despite appearing in just 63 G...the 21 HR were the 2nd-most by any Texas minor leaguer, trailing only Blaine Crim (24)…home runs accounted for 21 of Huff’s 25 extra-base hits (21 HR, 4 2B)...had three multi-homer games for the Express, including career-best 6 RBI showing on 8/27 at Albuquerque (3-6, 2 HR, 2B, 6 RBI).
2021
Combined to slash .246/.317/.496/.813 with 16 HR and 36 RBI over 61 games with the Arizona Complex League Rangers (Rookie), Frisco (AA), and Round Rock (AAA)…had 97 SO in 224 AB, whiffing in 43.3% of at-bats for the year…did not appear at catcher all year, playing exclusively at 1st base or DH, as last game behind the plate (spring training, regular season, or winter ball) came in last MLB contest on 9/27/20 vs. HOU… rated as the club’s no. 2 prospect by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline prior to the season…also rated no. 69 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects in baseball, and as the Rangers’ best power-hitting prospect by BA.
2020
Made a strong impression in his first ML action, batting .355/.394/.742/1.136 with three HR and four RBIs in 10 G for Texas, this after never playing above High-A…registered a 0.5 wins above replacement figure according to baseball-reference. com, the 8th-highest among Rangers despite appearing in only 10 games...with his debut, became the 1000th player in Texas history to appear for the club.
2019
Posted a career-best 28 HR and 72 RBI between two levels, reaching High-A for the 1st time…ranked as the 3rdhighest HR total in the Texas organization (33-Matt Davidson, 31-Patrick Wisdom)…began the season with Low-A Hickory and registered a 1.165 OPS before promotion to High-A Down East on 5/9…batted .325 (26-80) with 12 HR and 17 RBI over 23 G in April, earning MiLB.com South Atlantic League Player of the Month honors in addition to Texas Rangers April Player of the Month and SAL Player of the Week for 4/22-28…struck out in 32.5% of plate appearances for Hickory, but dropped that rate to 28.9% with Down East…19-game hitting streak with the Wood Ducks from 7/9-8/1 was T2nd-longest such streak in the Carolina League…named 2019 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game MVP after hitting a game-tying 2-R HR at Progressive Field in Cleveland...named a CL postseason All-Star…rated by Baseball America as Texas' 28th-best prospect and the 5th-best prospect in the CL, as well as having the Best Power in the CL and SAL in the publication's Best Tools rankings…clocked with an average exit velocity on batted balls of 91.0 mph according to BA, sitting well above last season's Major League average of 88.1 mph… threw out 30 of 63 (47.6%) attempted base stealers.
2018
Named to South Atlantic League mid-season All-Star team and was honored as a Texas Organization AllStar by MiLB.com…hit 18 HR for Hickory, ranking T1st among Crawdads and T6th in the SAL…made 56 starts at catcher and threw out 18 of 60 (30%) attempted base stealers…also appeared at first base.
