Rangers Prospect Out Part of 2023 After Surgery

Aaron Zavala was playing in the Arizona Fall League when an injury and subsequent surgery ended his season.

The Texas Rangers announced on Friday No. 11 prospect Aaron Zavala will not be ready for the start of the 2023 season after surgery on a torn UCL.

The team made the announcement in a press conference with local Rangers media.

Zavala, an outfield prospect, suffered the injury during AFL action. The timetable for his recovery is sometime between May and June of next season.

Rangers surgeon Dr. Keith Meister performed the surgery. It was reportedly not a full reconstruction, which would have been a Tommy John surgery and would have required more recovery time.

Zavala played in just five games in Arizona, as he batted .200 with a home run and an RBI. He walked five times and struck out six times.

Zavala started the 2022 season with High Class-A Hickory and was promoted to Double-A Frisco on July 30. For the season he batted .277/.420/.453/.873 in 111 games (114-for-411) with 89 runs, 186 total bases, 18 doubles, three triples, 16 home runs and 62 RBI. He walked 89 times, struck out 108 times, stole 14 bases and was caught stealing six times.

The Rangers drafted Zavala out of the University of Oregon in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft. Zavala was coming off being named the Pac-12 Player of the Year after he set three Oregon hitting records.

His pro career didn’t start right away due to a health abnormality. But, he managed 22 games with the Rangers’ Arizona Complex League rookie team and their Low Class-A Down East team, batting .293/.419/.400/.819 with one home run and nine RBI.

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