Rangers place five in BA's Northwest League Top 20 List

Baseball America is rolling out their league top 20 prospect lists, and today's list is for the short-season A Northwest League, which includes Texas affiliate the Spokane Indians.

The Rangers have five prospects who crack the top 20:

Rougned Odor, who came in at #7

Jorge Alfaro, who came in at #8

Matt West, who came in at #13

Will Lamb, who came in at #18

Kyle Hendricks, who came in at #20

Interesting mix of players...Odor and Alfaro are teenagers who were signed out of Latin America and who were very young for the Northwest League, which is primarily made up of players who were just drafted out of college. Odor coming in ahead of Alfaro is a surprise, given that they are only a year apart in age, and Alfaro was the better hitter of the two this season while playing the more challenging defensive position. Alfaro is also considered to have significantly more upside than Odor; that shouldn't be read as a knock on Odor, however, as Alfaro is considered to be one of the highest-upside players in the Ranger organization.

Lamb and Hendricks are both college pitchers the Rangers selected in the 2011 draft, though they have very different profiles. Lamb played more outfield than pitcher at Clemson, and thus is raw -- BA mentions that he "needs plenty of polish on the mound" -- but is a lefty with upside who throws hard and can reach 95 with his fastball. Hendricks, an 8th rounder out of Dartmouth, is almost the exact opposite, a righthander with four pitches and what BA calls a "heady presence."

Then there is Matt West, the team's 2nd round pick out of Bellaire High School in the 2007 draft. West was drafted as a third baseman, was suspended shortly thereafter for PEDs, and never really hit. Converting to pitching this year, West has been a revelation, throwing in the upper 90s and showing promise as a potential late inning reliever down the road.

Texas had the second-most players make the NWL Top 20 list, behind just the Padres, who had 6 players make the cut (including three of the top 6). Fifteen members of the top 20 came from three organizations -- San Diego, Texas, and the Cubs.

UPDATE -- I was sitting here thinking that I thought there was someone obvious missing. Jason Parks points out in the comments that that someone is David Perez, who had underwhelming stats but great stuff, and is still just 18.