Texas Rangers Prospect Josh Stephan Starring for Hickory

Josh Stephan is a top 30 Texas Rangers prospect and a local product from South Grand Prairie High School.

Texas Rangers pitching prospect Josh Stephan has more strikeouts than innings through his first three starts for the High Class-A Hickory Crawdads.

Stephan won his third game of the season on Wednesday, leading the Crawdads to a 4-0 win over Winston-Salem.

Stephan threw 80 pitches in the game, 55 for strikes. He struck out eight in six innings, giving up two hits, no runs and trimmed his ERA to 0.50.

6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K for @HickoryCrawdads RHP Josh Stephan yesterday. 🔥

The 21-year-old now has 22 strikeouts over 18.0 IP with a 0.50 ERA and 0.61 WHIP in 3 starts this year. pic.twitter.com/9y019YJyqF

— Rangers Player Development (@TEXPlayerDev) April 27, 2023

In fact, he’s been nearly unhittable in three starts. He has 22 strikeouts and has allowed just one earned run in 18 innings. He’s given up just seven hits and walked four hitters.

Stephan is the Rangers No. 29 prospect per MLB.com. The site projects Stephan as a 2025 call-up.

He was one of 17 high school players signed as undrafted free agents after the five-round MLB Draft in the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. The Stephen F. Austin commit, who played high school baseball at South Grand Prairie in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, signed a $20,000 bonus to start his pro career the following season.

In 2021 with the Rangers’ Arizona Complex League rookie team and with Low Class-A Down East, Stephan combined to go 2-2 with a 5.18 ERA in 10 appearances (nine starts). He struck out 50 and walked 16.

In 2022 he split time between Down East and High Class-A Hickory, where he went a combined 6-5 with a 3.14 ERA in 21 games (19 starts). He struck out 115 and walked 31.

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