Monday Newsletter time: The Newsletter is hitting the road for the first time. Instructs, here we come.

The Texas Rangers will be holding their annual pro scouting meetings this week in Arizona while prospects work to get better.

Oct 18, 2021

A photo of most of the Rangers draftees who attended a mini-camp in Arizona. From left to right (round in parenthesis): Joseph Montalvo (20), Mitch Bratt (5), Jack Leiter (1), C.J. Widger (10), Evan Elliott (15), Larson Kindreich (8), Tucker Mitchell (14), Ian Moller (4), JoJo Blackmon (11), Cam Cauley (3), Bradford Webb (7), Kyle Larson (18), Michael Alfonso (17), Liam Hicks (9) (Texas Rangers/Jesse Behr).

Truth be told, the beat writers who attend the Texas Rangers’ annual pro scouting meetings each October don’t actually see much of those who are meeting.

Officials, coaches and scouts lock themselves in a team meeting room in the morning, might peek out at the sun around lunch, and then don’t break again until dinner.

And, undoubtedly, they talk more over dinner and adult beverages.

So, the bulk of the time spent during the Texas Rangers Newsletter’s first official road trip will be watching and talking to minor-leaguers who are taking part in the fall instructional league or playing in the Arizona Fall League.

I talked to several of them during spring training and the regular season. John Moore and I have talked to a few as part of the Texas Rangers Baseball Podcast. One objective this week is to put faces with the names.

But there are stories to tell, and lousy cellphone photos and videos to shoot and post at the podcast YouTube channel.

It should be fun. The content will definitely be worth a paid subscription.

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Ballpark happenings

Globe Life Field was never built to be a baseball-only facility. It’s a concert hall, a prom site, and now a high-school football field.

Duncanville and Cedar Hill are scheduled to play Friday night in the first football game at the $1.2 billion home of the Rangers. The District 11-6A tilt will kick off at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are on sale now at texasrangers.com/football.

The grounds crew laid the synthetic surface at Globe Life Field atop of the baseball diamond last week. The field runs north to south from the left-field wall to the Rangers’ first-base dugout.

The game will serve as a trial run for the first college game at Globe Life Field, the 2021 Lockheed Martin Commanders Classic between Army and Air Force. That game is scheduled for Nov. 6.

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