Texas Rangers minor-league notes: Where is first-round pick Josh Jung headed next?
The trade deadline was the main topic of conversation Friday with general manager Jon Daniels, but he also provided plenty of news on some Texas Rangers minor-leaguers.
Without further ado:
▪ First-round pick Josh Jung, who hit a home run in his first professional at-bat earlier this week, will finish a short introductory stint with the Arizona Rookies and will likely be promoted to Low A Hickory. The eighth overall pick from Texas Tech, Jung went 3 for 4 in his pro debut Wednesday and 1 for 4 on Thursday.
▪ High A Down East shortstop Anderson Tejeda’s season is over. The Rangers’ No. 5 prospect by Baseball America, Tejeda underwent surgery on his left shoulder, injured while diving head-first into second base, last month. He batted .234 with 15 extra-base hits in 158 at-bats.
▪ Right-hander Hans Crouse, the Rangers’ top prospect, will have surgery in the off-season to clean out a bone spur behind his elbow. A second opinion confirmed the original diagnosis and prognosis that continuing to pitch would not cause additional harm. He has been on a tight pitch count at Hickory and has thrown only 51 innings in 12 starts.
▪ Down East righty Jake Latz, who was putting together a dominant season, has a sprained elbow that the Rangers do not believe needs Tommy John surgery. Latz hasn’t pitched since June 22 and will have another within the next two weeks.
▪ Left-hander Yohander Mendez (elbow) and right-hander Luke Farrell (jaw) are in the midst of throwing programs in Arizona and could pitch this season. The Rangers were counting on both to be rotation depth this season before they were injured in spring training.
▪ Lefty Taylor Hearn (elbow), the Rangers’ No. 7 prospect, is also throwing in a throwing program. He was placed on the injured list in late April after his MLB debut, in which he failed to get out of the first inning in a loss at Seattle.
The international signings of Venezuelan shortstop Maximo Acosta, 16, and Bahamian shortstop Zion Bannister, 17, are official. Acosta, who signed for $1.6 million, worked out Friday at Globe Life Park, taking grounders with fellow Venezuelan Elvis Andrus. Bannister signed for $835,000.
Daniels said that the Rangers have not spent all of their international bonus pool and could be active the next few weeks. They have yet to announced the reported signing of Dominican outfielder Bayron Lora for $4.2 million.
