Inside The Rangers

Texas Rangers Top 30 Pitching Prospect Has Made Unexpected Quick Rise

Selected in the 2023 MLB Draft, this Texas Rangers pitching prospect is now one of the organization’s highest-ranked players.

Matthew Postins

May 29, 2023; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Texas Rangers cap and glove in the dugout in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
May 29, 2023; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Texas Rangers cap and glove in the dugout in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports / Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
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Based on his body of work at the University of Miami, Alejandro Rosario doesn’t exactly scream fast-rising prospect.

With the Hurricanes in 2022 he went 2-3 with a 7.05 ERA. Then, last year, he went 5-6 with a 7.11 ERA. For his three-year college career he was 12-13 with a 6.53 ERA.

Yet, the Texas Rangers selected him in the fifth round of last year’s draft, and none of the team’s Top 30 prospects is rising faster than him, according to MLB Pipeline.

The site is preparing to release its latest Top 100 prospects update, and the expectation is that the Rangers’ top prospect, infielder Sebastian Walcott, will be on that list.

Rosario probably won’t be. But he’s knocking on the door as he’s ranked No. 6 even though he’s  pitching his first professional season.

He started the season at Class-A Down East and is now at High-A Hickory with Walcott. For the season Rosario is 3-4 with a 2.43 ERA in 77 2/3 innings. What’s been eye-popping is his strikeout-to-walk ratio. He’s fanned 114 against 12 walks.

So what’s fueled his rise? The Rangers saw a pitcher they could work with, even though he posted mediocre numbers in college. MLB Pipeline analysts noted that Texas helped Rosario refine both his delivery and his pitch usage.

What the right-hander has now is a fastball that can touch triple digits and one that consistently hits the mid-90s. He also has a splitter with great movement and a tight slider in the mid-80s. The pitch mix is helping to drive his high strikeouts numbers.

MLB Pipeline now projects him as a potential 2026 call-up. The only pitchers ranked ahead of Rosario in the system are Kumar Rocker (No. 3) and Jack Leiter (No. 5). Rocker is working back from Tommy John surgery while Leiter has made a few starts with the Rangers this year and is a candidate to join the rotation next season.

At the deadline, the Rangers lost one of their Top 30 prospects to trade as they shipped pitcher Joseph Montalvo to Detroit in order to acquire reliever Andrew Chafin. In another trade, the Rangers acquired a new Top 30 prospect in pitcher Walter Pennington, who made a brief appearance with the Rangers last weekend and is now at Triple-A Round Rock.

After the new Top 100 comes out, the Top 30 is likely to be adjusted again, this time for the Rangers’ MLB draft picks. When Baseball America released its re-ranked Top 30 last week, four draft picks ended up in the Top 30 — first-round pick Malcolm Moore, second-round pick Dylan Dreiling, third-round pick Casey Cook fourth-round pick David Hagaman.

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Matthew Postins
MATTHEW POSTINS

Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers the Texas Rangers for Fan Nation/SI and also writes about the Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies. He also covers the Big 12 for HeartlandCollegeSports.com.

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