Farm Futures (3/13/09)

About 360 days ago, I caught an early minor league spring training game between the Class-A rosters for the Rangers and Royals organizations. It was the first time I’d laid eyes on Neftali Feliz, who started for the Rangers.

Feliz’s fastball sat at 95 and touched 97 mph a few times. He fanned the Royals’ top prospect Mike Moustakas on a stunning 82 mph change and by the time he was done with his two-frame appearance, the small crowd of prospects, scouts and executives was buzzing.

And then this guy took the mound for the little Rangers and suddenly, Feliz became almost an afterthought.

Because manchild Wilmer Font is a freak of nature.

It’s almost inconceivable that any farm system could be so deep with high-end talent that someone like Font could basically fall off the radar, but that’s what has happened in the wake of the ascension of Feliz and Derek Holland as elite prospects, the teenagers in the 2008 Spokane rotation (Martin Perez, Neil Ramirez, Wilfredo Boscan, Carlos Pimentel…) that dominated hitters three, four and five years older than they were, and the Fall Instructional League buzz surrounding Michael Main and Joe Wieland.

The 18 year old Venezuelan Font brings easy 95-99 mph heat (the day I saw him last spring, his fastball sat at 98 mph) and a power curve with sharp, downward break. The Royals prospects gathered behind the backstop that day giggled and shook their heads in awe. ESPN’s Keith Law — a former assistang GM for the Blue Jays — was there that day too and wrote that

“Feliz was just the opening act for the star attraction, 17-year-old Wilmer Font. Font checks in at 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds and attracted a crowd of pitchers behind the plate to watch him work. Fitting for a big guy, he has a big fastball, hitting 98 and working mostly at 93-96 mph, with good downhill plane, and he shows good command for a 17-year-old with just 45 innings of U.S. experience. There’s an obvious plan to work down in the zone, and he can execute on it well given his age and history. His secondary stuff is still raw; his slider was a little ahead of his changeup, with good tilt but a long, loose break. His arm action is a little long in back, but his delivery is otherwise solid, and his velocity is very easy.”

When Font made his professional debut with the Rangers’ Arizona Rookie League club as a 17 year old in the summer of 2007 — which might have been the summer before his senior year in high school had he been born and raised in the USA — he averaged more than 12 strikeouts per nine innings. Baseball America ranked him as the fifth best prospect in the league and the stars were aligning for Font to breakout as one of the elite prospects in the game as the 2008 season began.

Injuries — first shoulder soreness and then a knee injury suffered during a conditioning drill — cost Font almost the entire 2008 season. He finally got back on the mound on August 18 and was dangerously wild, plunking three batters, walking one and allowing a hit while recording one out.

He made two more appearances before the end of the season and quickly got back to being Wilmer Font, fanning five without issuing a hit or a walk (or drilling anyone) over four innings.

When outsiders talk about the depth of high-ceiling pitching prospects in the Rangers system, this is what they are talking about. Font is an extremely rare talent who would be a crown jewel in many systems even though he barely pitched last year. In the Rangers system, he’s barely mentioned.

Hopefully, Font won’t age by a year or two this week and he’ll be ready for an assignment to short-season Spokane in June where he’ll be one of the youngest pitchers in the league. He needs to log 60-70 innings in the Northwest League to get back on track to becoming one of the top pitching prospects in the game.