MLB Draft Deep Dive: Texas Rangers

In order to satisfy my innate curiosity as it pertains to the MLB Draft, I have taken a comprehensive look at the 2018 draft for each of the 30 MLB organizations. But I also wanted to get an idea of what each of the teams had done for the 20 years prior so that is included as a prelude to the 2018 information. I'll be looking first at each team in each division, starting with the National League East, and then I'll follow up with a an overall look at both the historical draft results to date and the early 2018 results.

My goal is to get a better idea of the big picture as to how the systems compare in terms of draft results, as well as how a good or bad draft class affects a system, the overall impact of the draft on the baseball talent pool and the circuitous ways in which draft picks are used to bolster a system for which they may never even play. This project is just a first step. I intend to expand on this information over time (including a later revisit of the 2018 class and the addition of the 2019 class next offseason) and I will share my findings as I do so.

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST

TEXAS RANGERS

Historical Draft Results from 1998 through 2017 (TO DATE)
Drafted 947 | Signed 584 | Pitchers Signed 330 | Position Players Signed 254
Total WAR 391.5
Total Players to MLB 94

Note: The following players are listed at the position at which they were originally drafted.

1998 | 2 to MLB | WAR 24.8 | High WAR 25.1, 1B Carlos Pena, 1st rd
1999 | 8 to MLB | WAR 47.0 | High WAR 20.1, RHP Aaron Harang, 6th rd
2000 | 5 to MLB | WAR 38.5 | High WAR 32.2, 3B Edwin Encarnacion, 9th rd
2001 | 2 to MLB | WAR 69.2 | High WAR 51.8, 3B Mark Teixeira, 1st rd
2002 | 4 to MLB | WAR 3.5 | High WAR 3.0, RHP Jesse Chavez, 42nd rd
2003 | 5 to MLB | WAR 87.4 | High WAR 57.3, SS Ian Kinsler, 17th rd
2004 | 7 to MLB | WAR (0.9) | High WAR 0.6, LHP Zach Phillips, 23rd rd
2005 | 5 to MLB | WAR 1.0 | High WAR 0.9, OF John Mayberry, 1st rd
2006 | 5 to MLB | WAR 35.0 | High WAR 15.4, 1B Chris Davis, 5th rd
2007 | 8 to MLB | WAR 20.5 | High WAR 10.0, RHP Tommy Hunter, 1st rd
2008 | 8 to MLB | WAR 31.1 | High WAR 17.4, RHP Tanner Roark, 25th rd
2009 | 3 to MLB | WAR 0.1 | High WAR 0.9, RHP Tanner Scheppers, 1st rd
2010 | 10 to MLB | WAR (0.9) | High WAR 5.2, LHP Alex Claudio, 27th rd
2011 | 8 to MLB | WAR 26.1 | High WAR 15.6, RHP Kyle Hendricks, 8th rd
2012 | 5 to MLB | WAR 7.6 | High WAR 5.3, 3B Joey Gallo, 1st rd
2013 | 5 to MLB | WAR 1.4 | High WAR 1.6, SS Isiah Kiner-Falefa, 4th rd
2014 | 2 to MLB | WAR (0.4) | High WAR (0.1), 3B Jose Trevino, 6th rd
2015 | 2 to MLB | WAR 0.5 | High WAR 0.6, LHP Jeffrey Springs, 30th rd
2016 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A
2017 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A

The highest total WAR to date, as well as the high individual WAR, both come from the 2003 draft class. 2B Ian Kinsler (17th round, 57.3 WAR) played for the Rangers for eight seasons (35.0 WAR) before being traded to Detroit for 1B Prince Fielder in November 2013. Kinsler went on to post 17.7 WAR for the Tigers over the next three seasons while Fielder posted 0.3 WAR for the Rangers over that same time period. Not optimal. Kinsler, now with the Red Sox, earned his first World Series hardware in 2018. To date, he is a four-time All-Star and a two-time Gold Glove winner. LHP John Danks (1st round, 20.2 WAR) was another member of this draft class, but he never played for Texas. Danks made his MLB debut for the White Sox after being included in a December 2006 trade that sent RHP Brandon McCarthy to the Rangers. RHP Scott Feldman (30th round, 8.3 WAR) was also drafted by the Rangers in 2003. Feldman played for the team for eight seasons (3.7 WAR) before leaving via free agency. The two remaining members of the class who made it to the bigs are RHP Wes Littleton (4th round, 1.9 WAR) and C Cody Clark (11th round, -0.3 WAR). Littleton played his entire three-year MLB career for the Rangers. Clark was released by the Rangers in 2005 and kicked around the minors for several years, earning his MLB cup of coffee (16 games) for the Astros in August 2013, 10 years after he was drafted.

2018 DRAFT
40 Drafted | 31 Signed | 19 Pitchers | 12 Position Players
17 College | 15 Signed | 9 Pitchers | 6 Position Players
7 JC/CC | 5 Signed | 3 Pitchers | 2 Position Players
16 HS/NS | 11 Signed | 7 Pitchers | 4 Position Players

Notable: The Rangers signed 18 of their top 20 draft picks with the first miss being 15th round OF Cameron Simmons, University of Virginia.

PITCHERS
A whopping TEN of the 19 pitchers signed (16 RHP, 3 LHP) did not play in the minors in 2018. Of those who did play, one was promoted beyond the Short Season A* level (to Advanced A).  Three of the signed pitchers debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Rangers, one as a Top 10 prospect.

Top Prospects

🔟 RHP Cole Winn, 1st round, Orange Lutheran HS (CA), DNP

RHP Owen White, 2nd round, Carson HS (NC), DNP

RHP Mason Englert, 4th round, Forney HS (TX), DNP

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

RHP Cole Uvila, 40th round, Georgia Gwinnett College, SSA
31.2 IP | 19 G / 0 GS | 1.42 ERA | 0.884 WHIP | 15 BB : 48 K

In total, the Rangers 2018 Draft pitchers combined for a 3.27 ERA and a 1.201 WHIP (but only 170.2 innings, far fewer than the other affiliates) as compared to the 3.67 ERA and 1.299 WHIP (average of 376.2 innings per affiliate) compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

POSITION PLAYERS
All but one of the 12 position players signed (2 2B, 2 3B, 3 SS, 2 OF, 3 C) logged at least some playing time. None of the players were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level. One player debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the Rangers.

Top Prospects

3B Jonathan Ornelas (R/R), 3rd round, Raymond S. Kellis HS (AZ), Rk
48 G | .302/.389/.459/.848 | 25 BB : 41 K | 15 SB : 5 CS | 10 2B / 4 3B / 3 HR

Noteworthy Debut

SS Frainyer Chavez (S/R), 22nd round, Midland College, Rk
45 G | .306/.378/.405/.782 | 19 BB : 37 K | 23 SB : 6 CS

In total, the Rangers 2018 Draft position players combined to hit .253/.339/.347/.686 as compared to .261/.349/.386/.735 batting line compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

*Notes on players include the highest level achieved for the 2018 season using the following abbreviations:
Rk = Rookie
SSA = Short Season A
A = Full Season A
A+ = Full Season A Advanced

GENERAL NOTES: Information was obtained from Baseball-Reference and the MLB Draft History site. The occasional discrepancy in historical information was resolved to the best of my ability by delving into the player information available on B-R. On the historical information, the player position in the totals reflects the position at which the player was drafted (and not any subsequent change of position). On the 2018 information, the player position reflects the primary position played in 2018 for all players who were signed and the position at which the player was drafted for those who did not sign. Prospect listings on MLB Pipeline were as of early January and may not reflect any subsequent changes to that site.

PREVIOUSLY

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
NL East 2018 Draft Summary

NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central 2018 Draft Summary

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
NL West 2018 Draft Summary

AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays
Toronto Blue Jays
AL East 2018 Draft Summary

AL CENTRAL
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Kansas City Royals
Minnesota Twins
AL Central 2018 Draft Summary

AL WEST
Houston Astros
Los Angeles Angels
Oakland Athletics
Seattle Mariners

COMING NEXT
AL West 2018 Draft Summary