The Texas Rangers have added two of their top pitching prospects to their 60-man player pool. They added right-handers Cole Winn and Ricky Vanasco and assigned them to the alternate training site.
Cole Winn
MLB currently has Cole Winn listed as the Rangers # 4 ranked prospect – the highest among the pitching prospects. Winn is still very young at just 20 years old. The Rangers drafted him in the first round (15th) in 2018. Winn spent 2019 in Hickory playing for the Crawdads and eded with a 4-4 record after 18 starts and 68.2 innings pitched. Opposing batters worked 39 walks and struck out 65 times.
His best start was on August 28th when he pitched 7 shut out innings against the Columbia Fireflies. In that start, he only allowed 5 hits and also struck out 5.
Ricky Vanasco
Ricky Vanasco is another name you’ve probably heard of over the last year. He really shot up the prospect rankings and MLB currently has him ranked # 18. Vanasco had been in Arizona where he continued to throw.
Last year Vanasco played last season in the short season with the Spolane Indians and then played with the Hickory Crawdads. Between the two teams and leagues, he had a 3-1 record with an incredible 1.81 earned run average. In his 49.2 innings pitched he walked 25 batters and struck out 75 for 13.6 strikeouts per 9 innings.
For anyone who collects baseball cards, Ricky Vanasco has an autographed card coming out soon
Could a trade be in the works or could we see Cole or Vanasco on the mound in Arlington? I believe players have to be in the 60-man pool if they are to be traded. But if the Rangers continue to struggle, I’d like to see both of them on the mound in Arlington to get some games in.
