Baseball America PCL top 20 prospect list has one Texas Ranger

The Baseball America top 20 prospect list for the Pacific Coast League is out, and the Texas Rangers have one prospect who made the cut — Willie Calhoun, who checks in at #8 on the list. Despite this relatively high ranking, however, Calhoun isn’t exactly showered with praise in the writeup — BA says Calhoun “displayed a poor effort much of the season,” and said folks were “disappointed with his overall play.” Nevertheless, the bat is good enough that Calhoun cracked the top 10, and he still profiles as, at a minimum, a decent DH or (if the defense improves) left fielder as a result.

The nature of the Rangers’ 2018 season and farm system was such that they had few legitimate prospects who spent much time in Round Rock this year, and Ronald Guzman and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, two guys who would qualify as legitimate prospects and who started the year with the Express, ended up spending most of the year in the majors. To the extent that the Rangers have good showings on the league top 20 lists, it will be in A ball and lower, rather than in the Texas League or Pacific Coast League rankings.