Friday on the Farm: Ranking the top five starting pitchers in the Texas Rangers system
The Rangers have never had as much quality pitching depth as what they have assembled the past few seasons.
Before diving into the top five starting pitchers in the Texas Rangers system, much needs to be said about those who just missed out.
Some of them have made their MLB debuts (A.J. Alexy, Glenn Otto). Some of them had breakthroughs in 2021 following injuries (Cole Ragans, Cody Bradford). Some of them hit a couple roadblocks (Ronny Henriquez, Yerry Rodriguez). One of them didn’t pitch at all (Dane Acker).
And there are many more (Zak Kent, Avery Weems, Mitch Bratt and Larson Kindreich just to name a few).
Collectively, those in the top five and those looking to get there, they give the Rangers the most starting pitching depth they have had in a long time. Maybe ever.
“It's never been this deep. It's never been this good,” assistant general manager Ross Fenstermaker said. “Even the Derek Holland, Neftali Feliz days, I think we've got more quality depth than we've ever had.”
The starters come in all shapes and sizes, though most of them are right-handed. Their repertoires vary, as do their ages and experience levels, but they have been told over and over to pound the strike zone and to attack.
“I see a lot of competitors,” right-hander TK Roby said Thursday on the Texas Rangers Baseball Podcast. “And I see some guys who are different pitchers, like Ryan Garcia is not the same pitcher that Ricky Vanasco is. There just a lot of different pitchers, which is really exciting.”
All that’s left now is the patience to see who comes in. It won’t be all of them. The Rangers would be thrilled with three or four of them becoming quality big-league pitchers.
The five below are the best bets.