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Farm Futures Notebook

Posted on March 22nd, 2009 11:35am by Mike Hindman
Filed under Farm Report, Mighty MJH, Texas Rangers

Leury Garcia

Our Leader and I got to the ballyard bright and early today. As we set up in the press box at 7:30 a.m. on this Sunday morning, a group of about 30 Rangers veterans and prospects have gathered in the stadium seats for what appears to be a semi-organized prayer service. The clouds are drifting away to reveal the mountains on the horizon and sun prepares to embark upon yet another all-out attack on my neck and ever-expanding bald spot.

I had a few notes and observations from yesterday’s minor league action that I didn’t get to in the edition of Live From Surprise that we posted last night, so I thought I’d empty out the notebook as we prepare for a Camp Day (no games).

After the jump, we’ll begin with a discussion of Leury Garcia, a shortstop who turned 18 on Wednesday and then move on to talk about 2008 second rounder Robbie Ross and a few other items.

Garcia is about 5’7″ and weighs about 150 pounds, but he has an incredible arm. Among the physical tools among the minor league infielders, Garcia’s arm strength is among the most impressive. His hand and foot quickness is also phenomenal. The little man hit a punchless .209 / .250 / .279 in the Arizona Rookie League last year, but there might be as much buzz about him as any position player in the lower levels of the Rangers minor league system.

Jacob Kaase

Second baseman Jacob Kaase is certainly interesting. The Austin native was selected in the 23rd round of the 2007 draft and hit unevenly at three levels last year, but the kid can play defense.

Scott Lucas of The Ranger Rundown and The Newberg Report snapped this shot of a great Kaase defensive play earlier in the week and yesterday he made another couple of eye-catching circus catches. I’m not sure that he’ll ever hit enough to break out as a prospect, but it sure is fun to watch him wield the leather.

robbie_ross_inv_w Robbie Ross, the Rangers second rounder in the 2008 draft had an interesting outing yesterday. Pitching the fourth in the Class-A Hickory game, he opened up with three fastball strikes (called, fouled, swinging) to ring up his first strikeout and then got the second hitter to ground out weakly to third after getting away with a pair of weak two-seamers that stayed up in the zone. On the third hitter, he lost his action a bit and started to throw across his body, walking the hitter on eight pitches. He then gave up a weak infield single before getting out of the inning.

Ross is an aggressive pitcher who works quickly, but seemed to have trouble repeating his delivery. This was Ross’s first appearance of the year after not having played in 2008 and a touch of jitters may have contributed to his inconsistency.

3 Comments to “Farm Futures Notebook”

Chris Cohen @ March 22nd, 2009 at 1:01 pm

I know about Travis Metcalf, but who is the Rangers best 3B prospect? MY will be around for a while. Just wondering who might eventually challenge him for the position down the road.
Mike Hindman @ March 22nd, 2009 at 1:24 pm

Chris: Johnny Whittleman will be the third baseman at Frisco and I think he’ll have a strong season. Down lower in the system, the other notable prospect at third base is Manny Solis who is a really big kid with plus power potential.
Reagan @ March 22nd, 2009 at 4:46 pm

What’s the outlook for Matt West? He was a pretty high draft pick if I recall correctly. Then his suspension kinda knocked him off the radar. Where will he be and what should we expect this season?

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