The Rangers this morning will formally announce the signing of their top two picks, Mississippi State second baseman Justin Foscue and Elizabethton High School (Tenn.) outfielder Evan Carter, according to executive vice president of communications John Blake. MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reports that Foscue signed for a $3.25MM bonus, which checks in south of the No. 14 overall selection’s $4.037MM slot value. Carter will get a $1.25MM bonus, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets. His No. 50 slot carried a $1.47MM value.
Foscue, 21, batted .331/.395/.564 as a sophomore and was out to a .321/.464/.509 start as a junior prior to the college season’s shutdown. Dating back to the beginning of his sophomore season, Foscue has drawn 45 walks against 35 strikeouts through a combined 378 plate appearances. Scouting reports on Foscue paint him as a bat-first second baseman with particularly intriguing exit velocities at the plate, but he’s not regarded as a strong defensive prospect or a plus runner.
Foscue ranked as high as 19th on the draft rankings from Kiley McDaniel at ESPN. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen pegged him 26th in this year’s class, and Foscue also checked in at No. 32 at MLB.com, No. 36 at Baseball America and No. 63 at The Athletic.
As for Carter, his selection was somewhat of a surprise. The Duke commit didn’t appear on any pre-draft rankings — even BA’s Top 500 — although that hardly means he’s not a prospect of note or that another club wasn’t similarly intrigued in his abilities. Texas scouting director Kip Fagg told Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News after the draft that Carter and other lesser-heralded Rangers pick “would have really popped” had they been able to play out the 2020 season. It’s commonplace for a breakout senior season to send a prospect skyrocketing up rankings, and the Rangers believe they “beat teams to these guys,” Fagg tells Grant. In the aforementioned tweet from Grant, he reports that the Royals were eyeing Carter in the third round.
god our draft was trash
If it makes you feel better, apparently my team (Yankees) got a low grade for their own draft.
You have to draft for appropriate value. The Rangers may think they have found a gem in Carter when nobody else was looking at him, but if that is the case, if he is not listed in the top 500 and nobody knows who he is, you pop him in the 5th round, not the 2nd. After some terrible misfires in recent drafts, especially at the top of the board, I would hope Fagg is skating on thin ice.
I mean, he probably goes to Duke if he’s picked in the 5th.
He signed for below 2nd round slot $.
I’m going to let you in on a well known secret!!!!
General Managers do not give a flying F about prospect lists made by guys who are not employed in Major League Baseball.
Cringe worthy draft
underslot 2nd round HSer? screams reach to me.
The oil tycoon owners have to start saving money from somewhere. First option the draft.
Rounds 3-5 picks are all getting overslot deals.. a 5 round draft isn’t where they’ll pinch pennies..
Theyve cut payroll 25% in 4 yrs, and have very little money committed to future. They’re saving plenty of money
First option was the Rangers not refunding season ticket holders.
I really trust Kip’s evaluation. The rangers have hit home runs on so many first and second-rounders. He knows what he’s doing, clearly.
Sike. What a trash draft for Texas.
I actually like JD as GM but he is the worst drafting GM in MLB. He is just good at international signings (especially Japan) and finding treasures in the scrap heap. He’s only had one decent draft in all the years he’s been there. The organization is also crap at developing guys as well.
I know I’m in the minority, but when u consider everything inc posting fee, contract, injuries, and stats besides 2014, I consider darvish a bust and think they should stay out of Asia and concentrate on central and south America where theyve had success.
Darvish was not a bust with the Rangers. Thats almost laughable. He made 4 All-Star teams and put up 18.5 WAR.
Was also 52-39 with a 3.42 ERA, AL Cy Young runner up in 2013 and struck out 960 batters in just 782.2 innings for them, sounds pretty good to me.
Darvish was hardly a bust, but you really didn’t need intense scouting to know he was going to be successful. JD sold him on the team which I guess is valuable, however, hasn’t worked recently on big fish targets in the market. I’d rather have a FO member that is good at drafting/scouting/developing than selling to free agents that will become a burden at the end of their deals.
On paper, their draft is boggling. But in reality we can’t say much for 3-5 years
Great bunch of Rangers “fans” around here. Nobody stopping you from cheering for the Disastros.