Friday on the Farm: These Rangers prospects are establishing themselves as big-league options
(Texas Rangers/Ben Ludeman)
By most standards a player is no longer considered a prospect as soon as he loses his MLB rookie status.
Many with the Texas Rangers, though, still consider Leody Taveras to be a prospect despite having exceeded the at-bats threshold for being a rookie.
He has yet to play a full season in the major leagues, but made consecutive Opening Day rosters in 2020 and 2021.
He’s still trying to figure things out in the minors, but the 23-year-old is also younger than prospects Josh Jung, Sam Huff, Josh Smith, Bubba Thompson, Cody Bradford and Davis Wendzel.
No matter how he’s classified, Taveras is making a serious push to be in the major leagues in the coming weeks.
He has been terrific so far at Triple A Round Rock, where he was sent to begin the season to continue working on swing changes suggested by offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker and hitting coach Tim Hyers.
The early returns have been wildly encouraging. Taveras entered Friday batting .421 with three home runs, 10 RBIs and an 1.143 OPS in 57 at-bats.
Yeah, the Rangers could use some of that.
Imagine if Tavares hits at the big league level? Wouldn’t that be something!
It’s Plan A. If he became just a nice everyday center fielder, it’s a huge success. The Rangers believe his upside is an All-Star. That would be remarkable. Good kid. Lots of talent. Rooting for him.
Agreed.
But, I can’t read the entire article. I’m logged in, but it says I don’t have an active membership.
Regardless of the way the big club has played, the young guns have cheered me up. I have a feeling that Andy Ibanez will draw interest at the deadline by contenders. A team like the White Sox who could and should upgrade at 2B (with a mediocre player like Josh Harrison there now), would be a nice fit for Ibanez to step in and get every day opportunities. If Ibanez plays like he did last season (or even better) I could see a contender sending back a good return for Ibanez. Then give Wendzel or JHS (Josh H. Smith) opportunities at 3B the remainder of the season.