Rangers’ help wanted: Throw hard, hit far, high character

For the first time in more than a decade, the Texas Rangers have a top-10 selection in the First-Year Player Draft.

The Rangers have the No. 4 selection in Monday night’s draft, which begins at 6 p.m. on the MLB Network with the first and second rounds, along with the compensation picks Competitve Balance A and B rounds.

It’s the highest draft spot for the Rangers since 1986, when they selected right-hander pitcher Kevin Brown. The Rangers’ selection should come around 6:30 p.m.

They also have the No. 45 overall pick early in the second round, which should come around 9:45 p.m.

The Rangers’ strategy? Pick the best player available.

This year, however, there’s no clear-cut favorite. Projections from reputable draft analysts are all pretty much eyeing the same crop of five to 10 players.

But no one seems to have a handle on which team is leaning toward which player, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies, who pick 1-2-3 before the Rangers.

With no obvious selections, at least not ones shared publicly, the Rangers’ No. 4 pick will generally be regarded as one of the top prospects in the nation. The Rangers, however, will lean toward the best player available who also comes with the best makeup, mental maturity and character.

“It starts at the ground level with the area scouts and them having relationships,” said Kip Fagg, Rangers senior director of amateur scouting. “This happens a year or more before the player becoming eligible.”

Rangers scouts and crosscheckers get to know most of the top 30-40 prospects well, which includes talking with their teachers, friends and family.

“Anything we can get our hands on and then we make an assessment at the end of the day,” Fagg said.

Two recent examples of high-character, top selections are pitcher Chi Chi Gonzalez (No. 23, 2013) and slugger Joey Gallo (No. 39, 2012), both currently on the big league roster.

The hope is, Fagg said, to find those players who have the work ethic and drive to do what it takes to fulfill their athletic promise. If two prospects are equal in terms of their baseball athleticism, they’re going to lean toward the one they deem with more aptitude.

Fagg credited general manager Jon Daniels with instilling that philosophy in the organization.

“A lot of times I’ve been guilty of maybe passing a guy that maybe we thought was a little bit more talented than the other guy, but maybe we didn’t have the comfort level that we had with the other guy … in terms of makeup, knowing the kid, et cetera,” said Fagg, who is in sixth year as amateur scouting director. “That’s a huge part of the process we have. I have a hard time taking a guy, pulling his name and feeling comfortable if we don’t really know the kid, know what he’s about.”

So whomever the Rangers take at No. 4 and No. 45, and throughout the rest of the three-day draft, for that matter, rest assured the Rangers will have a good idea of who they’re getting.

“I always tell the guys when he walks through this door and is a Texas Ranger there’s not going to be any secrets we didn’t know about,” Fagg said.

This story was originally published June 7, 2015 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Rangers’ help wanted: Throw hard, hit far, high character."