Rangers Outfield Prospect Impressing at Double-A

The Hickory call-up, just 14 games into his Double-A career, his hitting better than .400 and is coming off a walk-off hit on Sunday.

Chris Pietsch / The Register-Guard

After 14 games, Aaron Zavala’s call-up from High Class-A Hickory to Double-A Frisco looks like it was the right call for the Texas Rangers organization.

Zavala, an outfielder in his second year in the Texas system, entered this week hitting an impressive .408/.525/.633/1.158 with two home runs and 12 RBI. He’s also drawn 10 walks.

On Sunday, Zavala provided the walk-off hit for the RoughRiders in a 4-3 win over Wichita. It was Zavala’s second walk-off in that series. The first was a walk-off walk.

With Hickory before the call-up, Zavala was batting .278/.424/.441/.865 with 11 home runs, 41 RBI and 68 walks.

Zavala is now the Rangers’ No. 11 overall prospect per MLB.com.

He made a splash in his second game with the RoughRiders in early August. He hit second in the order and went 2-for-3 with two doubles, two RBI and four runs scored. He also walked three times as Frisco won 14-12.

Zavala was the Rangers’ second-round pick (No. 38 overall) last year out of Oregon. Zavala went straight into the Rangers system, as he played seven games with the Arizona Complex League team and 15 games with the Low Class-A affiliate at Down East. With those two teams he batted .293/.419/.400/.819 with one home run and 19 RBI.

The RoughRiders are on the road this week at Amarillo. Frisco has one homestand left against Tulsa from Sept. 6-11. After that, the RoughRiders finish the season with a six-game road trip to Northwest Arkansas from Sept. 13-18.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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