Rangers minor league report: Updates on Texas’ top prospects not named Langford, Carter

Welcome to the The Dallas Morning News’ Texas Rangers minor league report, a weekly update on the organization’s top prospects and players from Round Rock to the rookie league...

A check-in with the organization’s top prospects who aren’t in Arlington: So, here’s the thing about the Rangers’ farm system: the top-shelf, close-to-the-majors prospects are ... almost entirely in the majors. According to The News’ organizational rankings, the club’s No. 1 prospect (Wyatt Langford), No. 2 prospect (Evan Carter), No. 6 prospect (Justin Foscue) and No. 8 prospect (Jack Leiter) are each on the Rangers’ roster or, in the case of Leiter, are soon to be. Their No. 7 prospect (Owen White) debuted last season, and No. 9 (Kumar Rocker) is still sidelined and recovering from Tommy John surgery. That’s a sign that the system is working as designed; the best hope for prospects is that they only last on these rankings so long before they wind up contributing to the major league club.

And the remaining top-10 prospects? Third-ranked prospect Sebastian Walcott is 18, fourth-ranked prospect Anthony Gutierrez is 19 and fifth-ranked prospect Brock Porter is 20. Each are still a handful of levels — and years — away from major league contention.

Where are the younger prospects now? Off to slow-ish starts, frankly, but largely because the Rangers challenged them with advanced assignments out of spring training. All three play for High-A Hickory, where the average age for hitters is 22 and the average age for pitchers is 23. Walcott, a Bahamian shortstop who the Rangers signed last January, is just 4 for 37 with one extra base hit in his first 10 games. Gutierrez, a Venzuelan outfielder, is 7 for 38 but has hit a double in each of his last two games. Porter, the Rangers’ fourth-round pick in the 2022 MLB draft, has a 3.60 ERA in two starts (five innings pitched) with more walks (7) than strikeouts (5).

It’s no cause for alarm. Partly because it’s too early in the season for that, and partly because of their age and assignments. The Rangers like to challenge their best hitters. It’s how Carter wound up in the World Series as a 21-year-old, and how Langford broke camp on the major league roster after just half a season of professional baseball under his belt. Gutierrez and Porter both performed well as younger-than-average Low-A players last year, and Walcott skipped that level altogether thanks to a strong showing in the Arizona Complex League.

Most relevant MiLB thing as it pertains to the MLB team: Aside from Leiter’s performance that earned him a call-up to the major leagues. And aside from the early-season promotions of Foscue and Davis Wendzel? Yeah, the Rangers have already went and added Round Rock’s best hitters just two weeks in.

Which raises a question: what else do the Express have to offer in assistance of the Rangers? It kind of starts and ends with the bullpen.

Texas has already called on Grant Anderson, Cole Winn, Austin Pruitt and Leiter from Triple-A to pitch in on the major league relief staff. They assuredly will not be the last to do so. Options include RHP Marc Church (a spring training darling who has a 3.86 ERA in his first four games), LHP Antoine Kelly (a top organizational prospect with a 3.38 ERA in three outings) and Jesus Tinoco, who Texas signed this offseason to a non-roster deal. The 27-year-old has a 2.57 ERA in six games (seven innings pitched) and could potentially provide some length.

Most notably, though, has been the performance of Jonathan Hernandez. The 27-year-old right-hander has a 1.29 ERA in six appearances with nine strikeouts to three walks in seven innings pitched. He pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in Round Rock’s loss on Tuesday, sat at 96 mph with his fastball and generated swings-and-misses with both of the changeups he threw.

The Rangers optioned Hernandez to the minor leagues midway through last season because he couldn’t locate his pitches, but after spending the bulk of spring training on the mend with an injury, he looks sharp in the early going at Round Rock. He was an effective relief pitcher in 2020 when he averaged just 2.32 walks per nine innings, and if his command has returned closer to form, he could be an option for the Texas bullpen.

Pitcher of the week: RHP Winston Santos. The 22-year-old has given up just one earned run in his first 10 2/3 innings pitched for High-A Hickory. He has a 12 to 2 strikeout to walk ratio, a 0.938 WHIP and he struck out seven batters in 5 2/3 scoreless innings in his most recent start.

Santos began the season as the Rangers’ No. 29 prospect, according to The News’ rankings. He struck out just 19.9% of his batters faced in 2023 but has a strikeout percentage of 28.5% through his first two starts this season. His fastball sat 95-96 mph and reached 97 mph in his most recent start vs. Jersey Shore, according to @CrawdadsBeat on X.

Player of the week: 1B Abimelic Ortiz. He — like fellow infielders Foscue and Wendzel — might be blocked long term at the major league level, but the Rangers’ No. 15 prospect has hit well early on with the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders. The 24-year-old has slashed .313/.450/.5663 with five doubles, a home run and more walks than strikeouts in his first 13 games of the season.

Ortiz, the reigning organization minor league player of the year, hit 33 home runs last year between High-A and Low-A and spent time with the big league team in spring training camp. His bat plays, and as both Foscue and Wendzel have proven, it can get you far even if the math doesn’t add up on defense.

Non-top 30 standout: C Liam Hicks. Look, he’s a 25-year-old in Double-A; Hicks should be faring well. Even still, he’s hit the ball exceptionally well in his first nine games with the RoughRiders. Hicks owns a .368/.457/.447 slash line and is 14 for 38 with 11 runs scored. He generated some headlines in the Arizona Fall League when he hit 31 for 69 with more walks (16) than strikeouts (8) in 18 games.

The Rangers drafted Hicks out of Arkansas State in the ninth round of the 2021 draft. His future with the team is complicated to say it lightly. Jonah Heim is an All-Star, and Quad-A superstar Sam Huff already owns the title of a bat-first catcher who probably doesn’t have a long-term job on Texas’ major league team. That doesn’t mean his early play should go entirely unnoticed.

Stat of the week: Gleider Figuereo’s exit velocities. Figuereo — the Rangers’ No. 21 prospect according to The News’ organizational rankings — belted two home runs for the Low-A Down East Wood Ducks on April 8. One carried an exit velocity of 103 mph and the other 98 mph.

A 19-year-old who the Rangers signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2021, Figuereo profiles as a plus-power hitter and had a max exit velocity of 104 mph last season. He has a 1.077 OPS through eight games at Down East.

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