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Last night's game was terrible. Let's talk about the draft.
T.R. Sullivan covers the three picks made by the Rangers in the first evening of the draft. The Rangers went for power prospects in high schoolers Lewis Brinson (OF) and Joey Gallo (3B) and under-the-radar right handed pitcher Collin Wiles. No one was too mad about it.
Gerry Fraley writes brief bios for you to familiarize yourself with the latest players to potentially enter the Rangers' system:
- Lewis Brinson
- Joey Gallo (Did you know there was a Joseph Gallo known as "Crazy Joe" and "Joe the Blond" in the Profaci crime family? I did know that because I searched the name Joey Gallo and the Internet said so.)
- Collin Wiles
Drew Davison writes about the team's selections falling into the category of high-ceiling high school players with high marks in character and makeup.
Davison has a blog post up on Brinson's reaction to being drafted 29th overall in the first round by the Rangers. Apparently a deal is very close with Brinson already.
Likewise, Davison writes about Wiles and his reaction to being drafted in the supplemental round by the Rangers at 53rd overall. Wiles claims to be a signature away from signing.
Ray Brewer of the Las Vegas Sun has a piece on Gallo going 39th overall to the Rangers. From the video I've seen, it seems like Gallo really hates baseballs because he hits them very hard. Gallo also seems likely to sign.
In fact, Richard Durrett has an article covering the draft where director of amateur scouting Kip Fagg said "They [the three draft selections] will be Texas Rangers."
Jason Parks offers his thoughts on the draftees at the Texas Farm Review.
The progression of incoming information on Wiles has been interesting to me. The first time we ever heard the name "Collin Wiles" John Hart seemed sheepishly unfamiliar with him during the MLB Network draft show announcement. Now we've discovered that he had a 0.10 ERA in high school and scouts have told Parks he has "Great size; extremely good delivery; arm is fluid; action is very, very clean; off-the-chart makeup," among other things.
It's always fun letting more information trickle in to get a better idea of what the team might have seen in a guy. Though it is possible the Rangers mostly saw an opportunity to maximize a pick on a guy they liked for below-slot signability with Gallo potentially being an above-slot selection.
Now, baseball already being played by big leaguers (even if it is about a game that isn't worth writing about):
MLB.com's game recap by Eric Gilmore.
Rapid Reactions by Jeff Fletcher.
Sullivan writes about Craig Gentry pitching in last night's game even though Ron Washington said he'd never do that a few days ago. Scott Feldman times call for desperate measures, I suppose.
Fletcher writes that Feldman wants another chance even after turning last night's game into a nightmare.
Behind the DMN paywall, Grant writes that Feldman may have forced the Rangers to act in not giving him another chance.
Finally, our old pal Danny Knobler gets the rumor mill churning by claiming the Rangers--and other teams--have checked in on Kevin Youkilis whom the Red Sox intend to trade.