New Texas Rangers Top Prospect as Josh Jung Graduates

Evan Carter moves to the top and Winston Santos joins the list of the Texas Rangers' top 30 prospects by MLB.com.

With Texas Rangers third baseman Josh Jung now graduated from MLB.com’s top 30 prospect rankings, outfielder Evan Carter now elevates officially to the No. 1 prospect in the organization.

That follows The Athletic and Baseball America, which had already given Carter their No. 1 honors in the organizational rankings.

The Rangers' four affiliates recently had an undefeated day.

Jung opened the season with the Rangers but hadn’t quite accumulated enough MLB at-bats last year to move on from the prospect rankings.

Now, Carter is No. 1. But it also means there is a new prospect in the Rangers top 30.

That new prospect is pitcher Winston Santos, who is throwing for the High Class-A Hickory Crawdads.

Santos, now the No. 30 prospect, was signed for just $10,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2019. His fastball topped out at 95 mph during his first pro season in 2021 with the Low Class-A Down East Wood Ducks.

The majority of the Rangers’ top 30 prospects are at Double-A Frisco, which includes Carter. Eight other prospects are in Frisco, including pitchers Owen White (No. 2), Jack Leiter (No. 4), Tekoah Roby (No. 11), Marc Church (No. 19) and Antoine Kelly (No. 23). Infielders Luisangel Acuña (No. 3) and Thomas Saggese (No. 15) are also with the RoughRiders.

Round Rock features five in the top 30: infielder Justin Foscue (No. 6), pitcher Cole Winn (No. 13), infielder Jonathan Ornelas (No. 17), pitcher Zak Kent (No. 21) and pitcher Cory Bradford (No. 26).

Hickory features No. 9 prospect and pitcher Kumar Rocker, who was the Rangers’ first-round pick in 2022. Other top 30 prospects with the Crawdads: pitcher Mitch Bratt (No. 16), pitcher Emiliano Teodo (No. 20), pitcher Dane Acker (No. 22), outfielder Alejandro Osuna (No. 24), infielder Maximo Acosta (No. 25), pitcher Josh Stephan (No. 29) and Santos.

Down East features pitcher Brock Porter (No. 5), outfielder Anthony Gutierrez (No. 10), outfielder Yeison Morrobel (No. 12), third baseman Gleider Figuereo (No. 18) and infielder Danyer Cueva (No. 28).

A few Rangers top-30 prospects are not on minor league rosters yet. No. 8 prospect Aaron Zavala, an outfielder, is still recovering from offseason surgery. Shortstop Sebastian Walcott, the No. 14 prospect, was just signed by the Rangers during the international signing period in January. Pitcher Ricky Vanasco, the No. 27 prospect, is on the seven-day injured list but is assigned to Frisco.

More From SI’s Inside The Rangers:

1. Texas Rangers MVP in 2023?
2. Predicting Texas Rangers 2023 Record
3. Jose Altuve Injury Potentially Helps Texas Rangers Playoff Chances
4. MLB Plan for Television Texas Rangers
5. Why did Bochy Tab deGrom for Opening Day?
6. Bally Sports Southwest to Televise Nearly All Rangers Games
7. Texas Rangers to Wear Nike City Connect Jerseys for First Time
8. Texas Rangers Unveil Exciting New Ballpark Food
9. Rangers Believe They're as Good as Astros, Dodgers
10. Rangers Rotation Set Behind Jacob deGrom

---

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook and Twitter.