Scouts' Takes on Rangers Prospects

It's one thing for us, Rangers fans, to flap our gums and make up adjectives to describe Texas' up and coming arms, gloves, and bats, but it's another thing to hear opinions from the mouths of professionals. I mean, real live, honest to goodness professional talent evaluators. Proooooo-fesshhh-eeee-ohhhhh-nallllls. I get the chance to interact with scouts on a fairly regular basis and it's a damn pleasure. Almost everything I know about the game of baseball, I mean the game within the game, I've learned from chatting with scouts. I consider some of them to be true friends and nearly all of them to be good acquaintances and friendly faces. For those reasons, and for the more obvious reason of the fact that I'd really like them to continue speaking to me, these quotes will all be anonymous. Sorry, that's part of the game and you'll just have to trust I'm not making this crap up. So without further ado, let's get down and dirty with some quotes:

"I put a #5 starter grade on him, which is still a high grade for an A ball arm" (Ariel Jurado)

"I don't love it. Misses bats. FB is lively. CH has a chance. Upper minors arm for me but it was a brief look. Really good chance to be an upper minors insurance arm and I bet he eventually pitches in the majors" (Ariel Jurado)

"I put a big league grade on him. He really knows how to pitch. You're hoping for a tick more velocity, but he had a ton of run on 90-91." (Ariel Jurado)

"I don't like him. At all. 88-90 w/FB. Decent SL but threw way too many of them. It was his primary pitch. Fooled around with a little cutter that wasn't much." (Collin Wiles)

"He doesn't do much for me. Swing and misses a lot and doesn't have a position. Love the athlete, but just don't think he's going to hit." (Ryan Cordell)

"Cordell looked good in the two games I saw. He was brutal in center. That's not gonna work, but the swing looks better than in the Spring." (Ryan Cordell)

"He tries...sometimes." (Jairo Beras)

"I'm struggling with the grade. He isn't a focused type and he goes hard when HE wants to go hard. He's actually fast. He has a big arm. He has a least 6 raw. But he gives away ABs and teams already work him away and he doesn't try to adjust. He just swings." (Jairo Beras)

"I liked him quite a bit more this year with that cutter he added." (Jimmy Reyes)

"Electric possibilities. Always had the tools to dream on and is showing more promise utilizing those tools this year. 21 and with those tools and athleticism. It's scary. Could be Reggie Abercrombie or could be impact talent. I'm gonna give him a chance to be an everyday guy. Too much good there to run away from. If he was in the draft this year, he would have been a Top 5 pick and now he's figuring out AA. Gotta buy in some." (Nick Williams)

"Guzman, I'm not seeing it there. Like Sadzeck and surprised his numbers aren't better. Though he has the toughest pitching assignments. He hit 98 for me, but we were hitting everything." (Ronald Guzman and Connor Sadzeck)

"I'm all in with Morgan. All in. Not a star, but I love him. He has a long way to go, but he could be a good player. Comp'd him with Daniel Murphy.  Great hand/eye but not sold he can actually get to that 9-12 HR projection" (Josh Morgan)

"FB 91-93 and steep. CB is 83-85, CH is 84-88. He can pitch. One of the best low-A arms I've seen this year." (Brett Martin)

"I don't like it so far. Would say he's a below average receiver without the catch/throw skills to carry. But catchers with pop can find a way. I'm putting a 3 on him because he seems to be well liked and he appears to work hard." (Jose Trevino)

"Yep. I'm on board. He's a regular for me." (Nomar Mazara)

"Cordell doesn't really have a position and I think the swing is a little rigid/unable to adjust. I like Robinson better. I still think there's value in Cordell, but I'm not high on him." (Ryan Cordell and Drew Robinson)

"Chad touched 94 in the 7th. Threw really well tonight. Offspeed stuff is a little light, but he battled." (Chad Bell)

"I'd put that guy in a big league bullpen right now." (Andrew Faulkner)

"He reminds me of Kevin Siegrist." (Andrew Faulkner)

"I like him, but he's gotta miss more bats for me. Maybe out of the bullpen where he can just dial up the fastball and use the SL more." (Alec Asher)

"I liked him better than the other guys here (in Frisco) last year. He might end up starting a few games for Texas this year." (Jerad Eickhoff)

"Lopez has a chance, being LH with ability to spin a breaking ball." (Frank Lopez)

"I didn't like Lopez." (Frank Lopez)

"Does he ever go? I mean does he ever show emotion or get pumped up?" (Nomar Mazara)

"Oh yeah. He'll make it to the bigs as a catcher." (Jorge Alfaro)

"I think it's time to start giving some thought to playing him at other positions. He hasn't improved (at catcher) in 2 years." (Jorge Alfaro)

"Is he worse than Colby Rasmus? I mean, he can play all 3 outfield positions, he can strike out, and he can homer." (Jared Hoying)

"What's the name of this damn kid in the Northwest League hitting, like, .400?" (Ledarious Clark)

"Highest upside in the draft for me. But he needs some rest." (Dillon Tate)

"I like that kid. He's a dude. I saw him in that weird AAA cameo when Round Rock didn't have a shortstop and he didn't look all that overmatched. Long way to go, but man, what an arm. " (Yeyson Yrizarri)

"I saw him a bunch last year and I still can't believe what he's doing this year." (Delino DeShields)

"I just saw your big league club too. I'll take Odor, but you can keep Andrus. He's a bench player for me. And yeah, I've seen another player peak at age 23, Hanley Ramirez. Still can't believe Hank Conger started up with Odor. I mean, Hank Conger?" (Rougned Odor and Elvis Andrus)

I just snuck those last two in for fun. Those guys are big leaguers, but sometimes we talk about them too. So there you have it. From the mouths of guys who do it for a living. It's worth noting that none of these quotes came from Rangers scouts, none of them came from scouts named "Jason", and none of them are necessarily my opinion either. I have a large, all encompassing blind spot for any prospect currently employed by the Texas Rangers. But that's why I wrote this. I'm a Rangers fan and I want all these guys to succeed and kick ass and win the World Series and buy Lamborghini's and wear expensive sneakers and have beautiful children. But that's not realistic. Scouts live in reality. They have to live in baseball reality because their livelihood depends on it. They don't often have the luxury of being "undecided" on a player. They have to gather information, watch games, talk to everyone they can, then make a call- can this guy play in the bigs or not? It's a hard-as-hell job and a tough lifestyle most of us only think we'd love. I respect the heck out of damn near all scouts and I hope you enjoyed getting a peek into what they think about some of our favorite dudes. Even the ones they don't like.

As Always, Enjoy Baseball!

Love Ya!

-Tepid