International Signings Could Shake Up Top Ten Prospects List

This past Monday marked the opening of the MLB international signing period.  The Rangers signed twenty-three players that day.  Down through the years, the Rangers have done well in the international market.  Two players who are currently in the top ten, on one or more of the more prominent top Rangers’ prospects lists, are Sebastian Walcott and Anthony Gutierrez, were international signings.  There are also several other international players on the various top 30 Rangers’ prospects lists.  That group includes Emiliano Teodo, Echedry Vargas, Yeison Morrobel, Jesus Lopez, Marcos Torres and Gleider Figuereo.

This year the Rangers came away with three players who are listed in the MLB.com top 50 international prospects list.  Those three were ranked #2, #29 and #46. Paulino Santana, an OF from the Dominican Republic, came in ranked #2 by MLB.  Curley Martha, a SS from Curacao, was ranked #29 by MLB.  The Rangers also signed MLB’s #46 international prospect, Yolfran Castillo, a SS from Venezuela.

Just how good are those top three international players the Rangers signed? One way to get an idea is to compare the scouting grades MLB has for those three newly signed guys with the scouting grades of players on the latest MLB top 30 Rangers’ prospects list.   Players are graded on a 20-80 scale: 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average and 70-80 is well above average.

 Paulino Santana and Curley Martha are both rated overall by MLB.com with a 55 rating. Our only position player prospects with a higher rating than that is Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter.  They are both graded at 60.

Sebastian Walcott is rated the same as newly signed Paulino Santana and Curley Martha. Each of those three guys has an overall 55 rating.

Yolfran Castillo has an overall rating of 50. That puts him in the vicinity of Justin Foscue and Anthony Gutierrez who are also rated as 50.

That makes it seem as if the next MLB top Rangers’ prospects list will have three new guys in the top 10.  Currently, MLB has the Rangers’ top 10 prospects as:

1.  Evan Carter
2. Wyatt Langford
3. Sebastian Walcott
4. Brock Porter
5. Jack Leiter
6. Justin Foscue
7. Anthony Gutierrez
8. Owen White
9. Kumar Rocker
10. Dustin Harris

Their next list could read as follows:

1.  Evan Carter
2. Wyatt Langford
3. Sebastian Walcott
4. Paulino Santana
5. Brock Porter
6. Curley Martha
7. Jack Leiter
8. Justin Foscue
9. Anthony Gutierrez
10. Yolfran Castillo

Of course, the argument could be made that Castillo should go below Owen White and maybe even below Kumar Rocker since all three of them have a rating of 50.  Either way the top 10 or so should look significantly different.  The future looks very bright for the World Champion Texas Rangers.