Going into the past two amateur drafts, the Texas Rangers’ Tanner Scheppers was a complete wild card. Nobody doubted the ability, as he was one of the top starting pitchers in both drafts, but the health of his shoulder was in question.

Scheppers had an impingement in his shoulder and a lot of overall wear and tear that knocked him out of pitching for Fresno State during its run to the College World Series title in 2008.

Still, the Pittsburgh Pirates took a chance on him in the second round in 2008, but wound up not signing him. Scheppers fell to the 44th pick in the 2009 draft despite reportedly having a clean bill of health and showing good velocity in independent ball with the St. Paul Saints.

“The [medical reports] weren’t good; we weren’t going to take the risk,” one AL front office executive told me, and a number of teams thought his prior shoulder issues could return in the future.

However, since making his pro debut at the Arizona Fall League after pitching some in instructional league play, the 6-foot-4 righty has been downright nasty.

In his first AFL outing, he hit 99 mph three times pitching in short stints, and sat at 94-96 mph with easy velocity and good boring action, holding those readings from the stretch as well. He rocks back and forth a bit before delivering the ball from the windup, which is a little unusual, but there are no red flags in his delivery.

Scheppers’ low-80s curveball has great rotation and two-plane break; the depth is just filthy. He’s in the AFL not only to get some experience but also to work on his changeup, which is below average right now. But it’s getting better as there is some decent sink to it when he throws it right. He has also shown the ability to keep the ball down in the zone and the potential to command his fastball, as he’s been getting lefties out by jamming them on the inner half, spotting his heater well on the glove side.

Back to the health issues: Scheppers has the qualities of a guy who can pitch at the top of the rotation, but some talent evaluators think he could be a closer in the big leagues next season if the team wanted to pursue that route. The theory there is that if Scheppers is indeed still at risk for shoulder problems, you don’t want to waste the bullets in the minor leagues.

He could also take the Neftali Feliz route and work as a reliever to get his feet wet before transitioning back to starting. (In September, club president Nolan Ryan said the team likely would give Feliz a chance to start again next spring.)

For now, the Rangers are likely to work Scheppers as a starter in spring training, and figure that his shoulder-strengthening program and exercises (along with the organization’s focus on long toss) will minimize future issues. Regardless of role, he’s a premium talent. If he manages to stay out of the trainer’s room, it appears the Rangers’ $1.25 million gamble is going to pay off big.