Will Rangers take pitcher with 14th pick in Draft?

June 10th, 2020

ARLINGTON -- The Rangers go into tonight's MLB Draft with two goals.

The most obvious is to make the smartest selections possible with the Draft picks available to them. The other is to adapt to the new format that consists of just five rounds and be ready to fulfill other needs by signing quality non-drafted players.

This is new territory for all 30 clubs, and the Rangers want to be out front in drafting or recruiting the best possible talent. The club will have five picks in this Draft, having not signed or lost a compensation-impacted free agent last offseason.

"Since the dollars are even, it comes down to opportunity and your ability to treat people well, take care of them and develop them personally and professionally," general manager Jon Daniels said. "That has been a big focus of ours. We feel we have a really good story to tell. We are looking forward to sharing that with some guys."

Day 1 of the 2020 Draft airs tonight on MLB Network and ESPN at 6 p.m. CT and includes the first 37 picks. Day 2 begins at 4 p.m. Thursday on MLB Network and ESPN2 and spans the remainder of the 160 picks.

Comprehensive coverage will be available on MLB.com and MLB Pipeline, which will simulcast MLB Network's broadcast. Go to MLB.com/Draft to see when teams pick, the Top 200 Prospects list, mock drafts from analysts Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, scouting video and more. And follow @MLBDraft and @MLBDraftTracker on Twitter to see what Draft hopefuls, clubs and experts are saying and to get each pick as it's made.

Here's how the Draft is shaping up for the Rangers, whose first selection is the 14th overall pick:

State of the system
The Rangers have placed a heavy emphasis over the past few years of rebuilding their scouting and player development practices. The goal is to have one of the top farm systems in the game and have it consistently productive for years to come. The system is getting better, but injuries to top pitchers -- especially Tommy John surgery –- have been a major setback.

What they're saying
"It doesn't change a ton on the bulk of the work at the top of the Draft. I don't think we'll handle ourselves too differently in the first four or five rounds we have. We are still going to line up the board the same way. There is a little bit of strategy on the finances involved, but the biggest change is how we compete for and sell ourselves effectively to the undrafted free agent group and have choices." -- Rangers GM Jon Daniels

Whom might they take?
In their latest mock drafts, Mayo and Callis both had the Rangers taking left-hander Garrett Crochet out of the University of Tennessee. They also admit that could be a risk because of some past shoulder soreness. MLB Pipeline ranks right-handed pitcher Nick Bitsko from Central Bucks East (Pa.) High as the 14th-best prospect in the Draft, and the Rangers have shown an affinity for high school pitchers in the past.

Money matters
The Rangers will have $7,083,900 to spend on their five picks. The 14th overall pick has an assigned value of $4,036,800. They have the 50th overall pick with an assigned value of $1,469,900.

Had this been a normal year, the slot value assigned to each pick in the top 10 rounds would have gone up 3.5 percent compared to 2019, the same amount MLB's annual revenues increased. But as part of the reaction to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, an agreement was struck that slot values would remain the same as 2019, both for this year's Draft and the '21 edition.

Shopping list
There are 13 college pitchers among the top 32 Draft prospects according to MLB Pipeline. That could be fortuitous for the Rangers, because they have just 11 pitchers among their Top 30 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline. Five of those -- Joe Palumbo, Brock Burke, Jonathan Hernandez, Tyler Phillips and Demarcus Evans -- have reached or are close to the big leagues.

The other six -- Hans Crouse, Cole Winn, Ronny Henriquez, Ricky Vanasco, A.J. Alexy and Yerry Rodriguez -- have yet to advance past Class A. The Rangers have some other young arms getting ready to graduate from their Tommy John rehab programs.

But the Rangers could use an advanced pitching prospect from the college ranks. Right-handers Carmen Mlodzinski (University of South Carolina) and Cole Wilcox (Georgia) come from an area of the country that has always been attractive to the Rangers. The best high school pitcher in Texas is right-hander Jared Kelley from Refugio, Texas, down on the Gulf Coast.

Trend watch
The Rangers veered significantly in their approach to last year's Draft, taking third basemen Josh Jung (Texas Tech) and Davis Wendzel (Baylor) with their first two picks. The organization has always liked young power arms –- who doesn't? -- and athletic players who can play in the middle of the diamond. But taking Jung and Wendzel, and signing outfielder Bayron Lora as an international free agent, showed the ballclub's obvious desire for more offensive firepower in the system.

The recent top picks
2019: Josh Jung, 3B, Class A Hickory
2018: Cole Winn, RHP, Class A Hickory
2017: Bubba Thompson, OF, Class A Advanced Down East
2016: Cole Ragans, LHP, recovering from Tommy John surgery
2015: Dillon Tate, RHP, traded to the Yankees