Rangers Top 30 Prospect Wraps: Dane Acker

Dane Acker is back from Tommy John surgery and working his way through the Texas Rangers organization.

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. 24: RHP Dane Acker, Hickory Crawdads (High Class-A)

Statistics for 2022: 0-3 record, 6.31 ERA, nine appearances (all starts), 25 2/3 innings pitched, 23 hits, 23 runs (18 earned), four home runs, four hit batters, 15 walks, 31 strikeouts, .237 opponent batting average, 1.48 WHIP.

Season Transactions: Acker started a rehab assignment with the Arizona Complex League Rangers on July 16, as he continued his recovery from Tommy John surgery. Down East activated him from its injured list on Aug. 14, and then two days later assigned him to the ACL Rangers. On Aug. 21, Acker was assigned to Hickory.

Season Summary: It’s safe to say the Rangers don’t quite know what they have in Acker just yet. More than a year removed from Tommy John surgery, he showed encouraging signs during the rehab assignment with the ACL Rangers. He didn’t claim a decision, but he had a 2.08 ERA in five starts (13 innings) and allowed just seven hits and three earned runs. His high ERA was a product of the remaining four starts at Hickory, where he gave up 16 hits and 16 earned runs in 12 2/3 innings. By the way, in his two starts at Down East in 2021 before the injury, He was 0-1 with a 2.84 ERA.

Road Through the Organization: Acker bounced around in college, going from Rice to San Jacinto College in Texas to Oklahoma. At one point, he was a 23rd-round pick of Arizona in 2019, but he passed on signing. He bet on himself and worked with Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson — one of the college game’s renowned pitching gurus — to become a fourth-round pick for Oakland in 2020. But he never played for the A’s. Acker was one of the players acquired in the Elvis Andrus trade (Rangers catcher Jonah Heim among them). But, in 2021, after just two starts at Low-A Down East, Acker needed Tommy John surgery.

What’s next: Given that Acker is more than a year removed from Tommy John surgery, the plan is to likely rest him this offseason and give him more time to build up strength. Getting him back on the diamond and into the affiliate system probably felt like a bonus to him and the Rangers. Given his solid ERA with both Down East and with the ACL Rangers, it’s not hard to see Acker starting with Hickory in 2023 as he seeks to level up against that competition.

2022 Texas Rangers Top 30 Prospect Wraps:

No. 30: Josh Stephan | No. 29: Mason Englert | No. 28: Marc Church | No. 27: Danyer Cueva | No. 26: Alejandro Osuna | No. 25: Zak Kent

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