2012 Draft Preview -- Ty Hensley

Continuing with our preview of some players that the Texas Rangers could be looking at with their picks at #29, #39, and #52...

As I said last year when doing this drill, this would be a lot easier if the Rangers were picking higher, and neither of the Rangers' first couple picks were guys we'd ever talked about before the draft. Still, we'll take a look at a few of the intriguing names that could be in the mix for the Rangers, and see who might be out there...

This morning we take a look at the player mymlbdraft.com has going to the Rangers at #29 overall, Oklahoma high school RHP Ty Hensley.

Ty Hensley Scouting Report -- Ty Hensley is a 6'5", 220 lb. righthanded pitcher out of Santa Fe High School in Oklahoma. Keith Law, Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis each have Hensley going at #18 to the Los Angeles Dodgers, with Callis mentioning with the Rangers at #29 that they would "love a shot at Hensley." Frankie Piliere's mock draft has Hensley going at #26 to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Baseball America has Hensley at #23 in their top 500, Keith Law has Hensley ranked #36, and Kevin Goldstein has Hensley ranked #19 in his top 30.

Hensley is a big, projectable righthander who is described as having two plus pitches, a fastball that touches the upper 90s and a 12-to-6 curveball. Hensley also played quarterback in high school until his senior year, and has the athleticism that the Rangers like to see in their pitchers. Hensley's father was a pitcher who was drafted in the third round by the Astros in 1985 out of high school, and with the Cardinals in the second round in 1988, though his career was cut short by arm injuries.

I can see why Callis mentions the Rangers wanting to see Hensley fall to them at #29...he's (relatively) local, he's big, he's athletic, he's projectable, and he has a huge fastball. ESPN mentions concerns about Hensley being able to repeat his delivery, which leads to command issues, but that's the sort of thing that a team that is confident in its player development staff may feel is correctable...its obviously easier to have a big kid with a high-90s fastball work on repeating his mechanics than to teach a smaller kid without the big fastball to grow taller and throw harder.

Again, using the lazy comps I've been doing in this series, Hensley reminds me of Tanner Scheppers, another big righthander (Scheppers is listed at 6'4", 220 lbs.) with a big fastball and (when he was drafted) a plus curveball.

You can see video of Hensley below:

Ty Hensley (RHP) - 2012 MLB 1st Round Draft Prospect - Edmond Santa Fe H.S. (OK) (via OKSportsExpress)