2019 MLB Draft: Mock from BA has Rangers taking Rutledge

2019 MLB Draft: Baseball America’s latest mock draft is out, and the Texas Rangers are projected to take San Jacinto righthanded pitcher Jackson Rutledge at #8.

As we noted in our capsule write-up on Rutledge, he’s a huge guy with big time upside big a lot of reliever risk. He’s also been moving up the boards quite a bit in the last month, and thus, while he was originally talked about as a potential below-slot option at #8, and while Baseball America notes that the Rangers are rumored to be looking at potential below-slot deals with their top pick, his stock may have risen to the point that he’s not going to sign for a significant discount below slot at that point, because he might not drop much farther than that — they say the Phillies, at #14, would take Rutledge if he gets to them.

In contrast, Corbin Carroll and Brett Baty, two high school hitters linked to the Rangers, are mocked to go in the later teens, and so if the Rangers are going to go well below slot in order to try to moneywhip a difficult sign at #41 or #50, such as Maurice Hampton, the two-sport star out of Memphis, Tennessee, one of them could end up being their target.