Inside The Rangers

Intriguing Texas Rangers Pitcher Named Underrated Spring Breakout Star

The Texas Rangers have an intriguing young pitchers that could make a name for himself in the upcoming Spring Breakout game.

Dylan Sanders

Jul 26, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; The hat and glove of Texas Rangers fielder Leody Taveras (3) during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
Jul 26, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; The hat and glove of Texas Rangers fielder Leody Taveras (3) during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. / John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
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The second edition of MLB's wildly popular Spring Breakout series are set for this weekend and Texas Rangers fans will great a great look at the future of their team.

The Rangers are set to take on the San Francisco Giants on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. CT.

A handful of prospects have made their mark during the last few weeks of spring training, but this game will be some players first chance to show off since the end of last year's minor league season.

One such pitcher is the right-handed David Davalillo, who was recently highlighted by the MLB.com prospect analysts as a "sleeper" prospect that has a chance to make a name in himself on Saturday's game.

Davalillo had been an afterthought for much of his career, despite the baseball lineage. He was signed for just $10,000 back in 2022 and didn't really start to breakout until this past season.

Now, though, he is beginning to make the doubters look foolish.

The 22-year-old had an incredible 2024 campaign that saw him post a 1.88 ERA over 22 outings and 110.1 innings of work.

He held batters to just a 1.097 WHIP and had a 9.2 K/9 to a 2.6 BB/9. All of those numbers are elite and now have him quickly rising up the ranks.

Davalillo is the No. 30 prospect in the Rangers farm system, barely making the newest rankings. If he can prove that last year was not a fluke, expect him to fly up that list fairly quickly.

The path to breaking out as a pitcher in that farm is going to be a tough one.

Five of the top seven prospects in their pipeline rankings are pitchers. The final 10 in their top 30 are also pitchers. Only one of those players is a southpaw, as well, making it a crowded path.

The good news for all of those pitchers is that Texas does not have a ton of long-term options on their pitching staff right now. The only two players that seem to locked in to the future are Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter.

If Davalillo can keep up the level of production that he flashed last season, he can certainly fight his way into the rotation.

His low-velocity arm and high-command profile make him an ideal option for starter in the modern day. He could even project as an innings eater down the road.

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Dylan Sanders
DYLAN SANDERS

Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders

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