Fangraphs top 100 prospect list has 6 Rangers

The Fangraphs top 100 prospect list for 2022 is out, and if you a Texas Rangers fan, it is a cause for joy.

A whopping six prospects in the Rangers system make the cut, including a player who is in the top 10 — Josh Jung, the team’s third base prospect who is at #9 on the list.

Jack Leiter, the Rangers’ first round pick in 2021, is the second ranked prospect on the list at #24. Cole Winn, the third of the Rangers’ consensus top 100 prospects, is #52 on the list.

The other three players who made the cut are Ezequiel Duran, at #68, Owen White, at #84, and Josh H. Smith, at #89.

Duran is someone who I saw as a fringe top 100 prospect, someone who had a chance to make the back end of a list or two depending on how he was viewed, though 68 is higher than I would have expected.

White, meanwhile, made the “just missed” list for Keith Law, and his performance in Down East (once he got healthy) and, especially, the AFL had him shoot up boards. There is a lot of enthusiasm for White around the league, from what I can tell, and he’s someone who I think fits comfortably in the 75-150 range among prospects.

Josh Smith making the list is a surprise — I generally put him in the same category as Justin Foscue and Ezequiel Duran, although as the third of those three players, but you can put them in any order in my mind and not be too far off base. Fangraphs would seem to be the high guys on Smith, but this isn’t a completely off the reservation ranking, I don’t think.