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Akeem Bostick Scouting Report: Texas Ranger righthanded pitcher Akeem Bostick ranked #18 on the LSB Community Prospect Rankings.
In the days leading up to Opening Day, I'm going to offer write-ups on the 31 players who made the Rangers' LSB Community Prospect Rankings Top 31. I've done this the last couple of years, and I don't want to re-invent the wheel, so some of this will be a repeat of what I've written before, particularly regarding draft history or performance pre-2013. Also, this is not based on my personal observations -- I'm not a scout, and haven't seen most of these guys. I'm just aggregating the numbers and what others say about these players.
So, with that out of the way, let's take a look at Akeem Bostick...
Akeem Bostick is a 6'5", 185 lb. righthanded pitcher who won't turn 19 years old until May, 2014, and who was drafted by the Rangers in the 2nd round of the 2013 MLB draft. Ranked #147 among 2013 draft-eligible players by Baseball America prior to the draft, Bostick signed for $520,600, well below the $899,400 slot value for where he went, and was assigned to the Rangers' complex league team in Arizona, where he spent the 2013 season.
The story on Bostick pre-draft was that he was raw, athletic and projectable, throwing in the low 90s but without much in the way of secondary pitches. Bostick performed well in the AZL, putting up a 2.83 ERA in 41.1 innings, striking out 33, walking 12 and not allowing a homer, and Baseball America ended up ranking him 6th among AZL prospects in their postseason top 20 rankings. BA wrote that Bostick touched 96 mph with his fastball, and interestingly, said his curveball projected as a plus pitch, while his changeup was average. That's a better review of the offspeed stuff than you would expect, given the pre-draft reports.
Bostick will likely start the season with Spokane in the Northwest League, although the Rangers could challenge him and send him to low-A Hickory. As far as Bostick's ceiling goes, its hard to say, although the velocity and a plus curve would seem to suggest his ceiling could be a #3, assuming it all comes together. And of course, if the secondaries don't come along, the projectability and velocity make him someone who could have a future in the bullpen.
