Texas Rangers go college route in Callis mock

2019 MLB Draft: Jim Callis’s latest mock draft is up, and it has the Texas Rangers going with the chalk pick, Arizona State outfielder Hunter Bishop, at the #8 spot, though he acknowledges rumors out there about the team looking at Josh Jung and Brett Baty.

We wrote up Bishop here a couple of weeks ago — he’s a toolsy player with power and a chance to stick in center field, and the consensus is that he’s in the second tier of college players, along with guys like Nick Lodolo and Alek Manoah, behind the top six players expected to go off the board.

Two guys who we have talked about as potential Texas Rangers targets on over-slot deals at #41 and #50, Memphis high school outfielder Maurice Hampton and Wilmington high school pitcher Blake Walston, are mocked as going to the Arizona Diamondbacks at #33 and #34. Arizona has a bunch of extra picks and thus are in position to grab a couple of higher-priced guys who drop, like Hampton and Walston, though if the Rangers go Bishop at #8, it would likely be for around slot, which would make it much harder for them to moneywhip a guy at 41 or 50.