Rangers Top 30 Prospect Wraps: Tekoah Roby

Tekoah Roby had a solid season for the Hickory Crawdads, with the high point being a rare pitching feat in August.

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. 14: P Tekoah Roby, Hickory Crawdads (High Class-A)

Statistics for 2022: Roby went 3-11 with a 4.64 ERA in 22 games (21 starts). He threw a career-high 104 2/3 innings, giving up 95 hits, 58 runs (54 earned), 19 home runs and 35 walks. He struck out 126. He gave up an opponent batting average of .239 and had a 1.24 WHIP.

Season Transactions: Assigned to Hickory Crawdads on April 8.

Season Summary: The record doesn’t look great, obviously. After his win on June 21 he didn’t win another game in 2021. But wins aren’t the story here. The Rangers have to like the opponent batting average and the strikeout-to-walk ratio, which was nearly 4-to-1. In mid-August, he threw an immaculate inning against Winston-Salem, which is an inning in which he threw nine pitches, all for strikes and each hitter struck out swinging.

Path Through the Organization: So far, Roby is making the Rangers look smart for taking him in the third round of the 2020 MLB Draft and luring him away from his commitment to Troy University to play baseball. He excelled in instructional league and in 2021 he had a 2.45 ERA with 35 strikeouts in 22 innings as a 19-year-old in Low-A before getting shut down in mid-June with a sprained elbow.

What’s next: There is a lot to like about Roby’s development. He didn’t make the cut for the Arizona Fall League, but he should walk into minor-league spring training with every chance to earn a promotion to Double-A Frisco, based on the quality of his stuff and his ability to strike hitters out.

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 | No. 24: Dane Acker | No. 23: Avery Weems | No. 22: Emiliano Teodo | No. 21: Jonathan Ornelas | No. 20: Gleider Figuereo | No. 19: Thomas Saggese | No. 18: Maximo Acosta | No. 17: Mitch Bratt | No. 16: Ricky Vanasco | No. 15: Yeison Morrobel |

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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