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Beginning in 2011, I started doing capsule reports on possible Texas Ranger draft picks. No one I profiled in 2011 was actually taken by the Rangers that year, but I each of the last two years one of the players I profiled actually was picked (Nick Williams and Travis Demeritte).
This year, the Rangers don't have their own first round pick, having lost that for signing Shin-Soo Choo, but they have a supplemental first rounder (#30 overall) for losing Nelson Cruz. While just one high pick makes the draft a little less exciting, I think its still worth taking a look at some guys who may be options for Texas at #30. So in the next few weeks, I'll do little write-ups on some players who could end up being drafted by the Rangers.
For our second profile for today, I'm highlighting the guy who seems like the most obvious Texas Rangers draft choice ever, Michael Gettys.
We know that the Rangers love to draft guys from Georgia (Zach Cone, Kevin Matthews, Justin Grimm, Travis Demeritte, Jordan Akins, Jake Skole). We also know that the Rangers love raw, toolsy outfielders with high ceilings but who need to translate their athleticism into baseball skills, particularly hitting (Cone, Akins, Skole, Lewis Brinson, Nick Williams, Jamie Jarmon).
So that makes Gettys the ultimate Rangers' draft prospect, as he's a Georgia high school outfielder who has a huge ceiling and lots of tools, and was thought by some to be a potential high first round draft pick this year, but who has seen his stock drop because of a difficult season in which questions have emerged about his hit tool. In Jonathan Mayo's recent mock draft, he has Gettys going to the Braves at #32, saying he is "enigmatic" but has the raw tools to be successful.
Baseball America doesn't have Gettys going in the first round of their most recent mock draft, and has Gettys ranked #41 overall on their pre-draft rankings, praising him for his tools and his athleticism, but dinging him because of "serious questions about his bat," saying he lacks "hitter's instincts."
ESPN's pre-draft rankings have Gettys at #31 overall, with raves about his athleticism and ability to play center field defense (both his range and arm), and big time concerns about whether he will learn to hit.
I have no idea if the Rangers are that interested in Gettys, but he definitely fits the profile of the type of players they've targeted in the past, and at #30, you'd think they'd have interest in a boom-or-bust type high-ceiling guy. He sounds a lot like Lewis Brinson, who the Rangers used their first pick on in the 2012 draft.
Some video of Gettys is embedded below:
