Rangers Top 30 Prospect Wraps: Marc Church

The Rangers' No. 28 prospect, Marc Church, has a live arm and has already pitched for three Texas minor-league teams.

InsidetheRangers.com will review each of the Texas Rangers’ Top 30 prospects, as ranked by MLB.com at the end of the 2022 season.

No. 28: P Marc Church, Frisco RoughRiders (Double-A)

Statistics for 2022: Church went 3-5 with a 4.22 ERA with High Class-A Hickory and Frisco. He pitched in 37 games, all in relief, finishing with five saves and six holds. He threw 49 innings, giving up 46 hits, 26 runs (23 earned), 11 home runs and 14 walks. He struck out 78. Opponents hit .245 against him and he had a 1.22 WHIP.

Season Transactions: Assigned to High Class-A Hickory on April 8. Promoted from Hickory to Frisco on June 29. Transferred to the development list on July 4. Activated by Frisco on July 13. Transferred to the development list on Sept. 18.

Season Summary: Church’s live arm makes him a potential closer candidate. With Hickory, he went 2-2 with a 2.91 ERA in 23 games and recorded four of his five saves for 2022. He was highly dominant with the Crawdads, striking out 57 and walking seven. After his promotion to Frisco, his ERA went up to 7.20 in 14 appearances. He still had a solid 3-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio, showing that his arm translated in some way to the Double-A level.

Path Through the Organization: Did you know that at one time Church was a shortstop? That was his position for most of high school. He took up pitching in the summer before his senior year of high school and he threw 90 miles per hour to win a bet. So, his path changed. The Rangers drafted him in the 18th round in 2019 and paid him a $300,000 bonus. Church didn’t pitch professionally until 2021, and he’s burned through three levels of the Rangers’ system in two years.

What’s next: Given that Church is 21 and through two professional seasons, they’re more likely to keep him in a pitching program this offseason than try to put him in winter league baseball. If he shows improvement in 2023, where he’s likely to start at Frisco, he could earn a promotion to Triple-A Round Rock next season.

2022 Texas Rangers Top 30 Prospect Wraps:

No. 30: Josh Stephan | No. 29: Mason Englert |

---

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

Catch up with Inside the Rangers on Facebook and Twitter.