Rangers Top 30 Prospect Wraps: Josh Stephan

The Hickory pitcher is zooming through the Texas Rangers organization after signing as a free-agent after the 2020 MLB Draft.

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. 30: P Josh Stephan, Hickory Crawdads (High Class-A)

Statistics for 2022: 6-5 record with a 3.14 ERA in 21 games (19 starts). He had one save. He threw 103 1/3 innings, giving up 84 hits, 47 runs (36 earned runs), 11 home runs and 31 walks. He struck out 115. Opponents hit .219 and he had a 1.11 WHIP.

Season Transactions: Assigned from Down East to Hickory on Aug. 11. Moved to the Rangers’ Developmental List on Sept. 9.

Season Summary: Stephan continued to impress and slipped into the Rangers’ Top 30 rankings when Cole Ragans graduated from the prospect Top 30. He started the season at Down East, going 4-4 with a 3.34 ERA in 18 games (16 starts). He threw 91 2/3 innings and had an impressive strikeout-to-walk ratio, nearly 4-to-1 (102 strikeouts to 24 walks). That earned him a promotion to Hickory to end the season, where he started three games, going 2-1 with a 1.54 ERA. He threw just 11 2/3 innings.

Path Through the Organization: Stephan bucked a commitment to Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas, to sign as an undrafted free agent after the 2020 MLB Draft. That’s notable because the draft was just five rounds and only 17 high school players signed as undrafted free agents. He signed for just $20,000 and played with both the Arizona Complex Rangers rookie league team and the Low Class-A Down East Wood Ducks in 2021.

What’s next: He’s on the Rangers Developmental List right now. Look for him to start 2023 in Hickory, with a chance to earn a call-up to Frisco sometime that season, assuming his play warrants it.

Note: Prospect rankings are as of Oct. 4, 2022.

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