Rangers Select No. 11 Overall Prospect in Fourth Round

The MLB Draft continued on Monday with Texas grabbing a significant value selection after not picking in the second or third rounds.

The Texas Rangers stunned baseball on Sunday by taking Kumar Rocker in the first round. On Monday, as the MLB Draft continued, the Rangers kept racking up value.

The Rangers followed up the Rocker selection with another pitcher, right-hander Brock Porter out of St. Mary's Prep in Orchard Lake, Mich., who was the 2022 Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year. MLB.com had Porter ranked as the No. 11 overall prospect and as the highest-ranked high-school arm in the draft.

It was a significant development in that the Rangers didn’t have a second- or a third-round selection after giving up those picks for free-agent signings last offseason.

Porter went 9-0 with three no-hitters, a 0.41 ERA, and 115 strikeouts in 58 innings in 2022.

The Rangers fortified their outfield prospects in the fifth and sixth rounds. The Rangers took Woodward Academy (GA) outfielder Chandler Pollard in the fifth round and Wahlert (Iowa) High School outfielder Tommy Specht in the sixth round. Pollard was MLB.com’s No. 110 prospect overall, while Specht wasn’t in MLB.com’s Top 200.

The seventh and eighth rounds saw the Rangers go back to pitching and into the college ranks, taking Long Beach State right-hander Luis Ramirez in the seventh and Youngstown State right-hander Matt Brosky in the eighth. Ramirez missed some of the college season with an arm injury but threw a six-inning no-hitter against Mississippi State in February.

Ramirez was MLB.com’s No. 143-ranked prospect.

The Rangers wrapped up the second day of the draft with two position players. The Rangers took Georgia State shortstop Griffin Cheney in the ninth round and Kennesaw State outfielder Josh Hatcher in the 10th round.

The Rangers continue to draft on on Tuesday with rounds 11-20.

The Rangers, who have lost four straight games, have the next three days off due to the All-Star Break. The exceptions are pitcher Martín Pérez and shortstop Corey Seager, who will head to the All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Pérez was selected as part of the AL pitching staff. Seager was selected to the team on Thursday as an injury replacement for Toronto’s George Springer and will participate in Monday’s home run derby.

After the break, the Rangers have a one-game road trip to Miami to face the Marlins at 12:10 p.m. central, followed by a 10-game west coast road trip in Oakland, Seattle and Los Angeles to close out the month of July.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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