Friday on the Farm: Texas Rangers minor-leaguers who made favorable impression during MLB lockout
The players everyone knows are still doing their thing, but so are others who might have flown under the radar.
SURPRISE, Ariz. — The best thing for the Texas Rangers about the bad situation that was the 99-day MLB lockout was all the attention their big-league coaches and executives could give to the farm system.
Much of the major-league coaching staff, including manager Chris Woodward, and most of the front office started watching Feb. 21 at the start of the minor-league mini-camp.
Faces were put with names. Relationships were started. Impressions were made.
The overriding impression is that the Rangers have a lot of talent at all levels of the system.
“I like to under-promise and over-deliver, so I don't want to go too far,” general manager Chris Young said. “But the talent in our system is real. It's been really fun to watch these guys. Just the work ethic, the way that they've come in the purpose, the commitment, the way these guys reported early, even before early minor-league camp. We've got a great bunch.”
The players who you would expect to be mentioned — Jack Leiter, Cole Winn, Owen White, Cody Bradford, Jake Latz, Bubba Thompson, Dustin Harris, Blaine Crim, Aaron Zavala and others — are getting mentioned.
And then there are guys who are maybe a tick under the radar or further away from the majors. They have been seen by the bigwigs, too.
After five days of informal polling, here are the players whose names keep coming up again and again.