Rangers pitching prospect Ricky Vanasco will undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow next week, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan tweets. The timing of the surgery will likely wipe out all of Vanasco’s 2021 season.
It’s a tough blow to what was already regarded as a rather thin farm system. Vanasco, 22 next month, ranked as the Rangers’ No. 13 prospect at Baseball America, also placing 18th at MLB.com and 24th at FanGraphs. BA’s report on the hard-throwing young righty noted that he sits mid-90s with a heater that has touched 99 mph, in addition to displaying good feel for spinning his curveball. FanGraphs noted some trepidation about his “extremely violent” delivery but called him a potential high-leverage reliever.
Vanasco was a 15th-round pick in 2017 but turned heads last year when he pitched to a combined 1.81 ERA with a 75-to-25 K/BB ratio in 49 2/3 innings (11 total appearances — all starts). He’d likely have ascended to Double-A in 2020 under circumstances, but spent the season working out at the alternate training site in the absence of a minor league campaign. As such, Vanasco wasn’t completely deprived of developmental work in 2020, but it’s nevertheless still a notable setback in the promising young righty’s path to big league readiness that he’ll go two years without pitching in a truly competitive setting.
Come on. Why is all of our pitching depth falling away… All the more reason to tank for Kumar.
Sorry to Vanasco, it’s hard to be a prospect in general, but to be out for a year+ must suck.
Sounds alot like cole ragans and hes completely disappeared, now
Why would we tank for Kumar when every single one of our pitching prospects has TJ surgery? What they need to do is take a long hard look at the development program and change the strategy for developing young pitchers.
This organization just keeps bombing and bombing.
Let’s all hold our breath to see who is next.
I do agree with you on that. But, not just pitching, accounting and development, in general. I read an article, other day, 1 person they drafted in last 10 yrs to make allstar as a ranger. Joey gallo, and hes still not proven himself, consistently or long turn. But, if ur not gonna go all out draft wise, then a full rebuild is stupid. And we have nothing to trade, worthwhile. So that leaves spending, and we havent done that in 5 yrs and jd already said not in 2021 either. Our only hope is owners selling.that or fire jd and let hire someone with rebuild track record and letting them replace scouts, trainers, etc. But, I’m not convinced jd is problem. In fact, I dont think he is the problem. I believe, given same same resources he had in 2010-15, he could build a team as good as those 10-15 teams.
That’s a real shame. Was starting to get a lot of notice in the dynasty community.
Ugh. Hate younger Ranger fans. Been a fan since the 70s and this club is rich compared to those teams. Go be a Yankees fan if you wanna bellyache about your team.
Toxic gate keeping? Really? That is a disgusting attitude that only steers potential fans away from the game.
How do you know how old we are? Did you just make that assumption based of the content of my comment? Come on guy, get over it.
That is about the stupidest comment in the world. U would rather have fans that want us to win, to cheer the Yankees, and have a team like the ones in 70s? U may get ur wish, bc that’s what were headed for, if last 5 yrs r any indication. But still asinine point of view
Sorry to hear this
I do agree with you on that. But, not just pitching, scouting and development, in general. I read an article, other day, 1 person they drafted in last 10 yrs to make allstar as a ranger. Joey gallo, and hes still not proven himself, consistently or long turn. But, if ur not gonna go all out draft wise, then a full rebuild is stupid. And we have nothing to trade, worthwhile. So that leaves spending, and we havent done that in 5 yrs and jd already said not in 2021 either. Our only hope is owners selling.that or fire jd and let hire someone with rebuild track record and letting them replace scouts, trainers, etc. But, I’m not convinced jd is problem. In fact, I dont think he is the problem. I believe, given same same resources he had in 2010-15, he could build a team as good as those 10-15 teams.