DALSportsNation Countdown - Top 20 Rangers Prospects: 20-16

In 2019 Dallas Sports Nation put together it’s Top 20 Texas Rangers prospects. We counted them down five at a time for four weeks.

It’s time to countdown the Top 20 prospects for 2020 as we head into spring training this February.

Criteria

Before we start the countdown I wanted to lay out the criteria. No player on the DSN list can have played one day in the major leagues. This is confusing to some so I wanted to get it out there. There will not be a Joe Palumbo, Brock Burke or Kolby Allard on this list. These players are all ranked high on the list throughout baseball.

At DSN, however, we wanted to rank the top prospects who haven’t made it to the big leagues. These are players that we want DSN fans to keep track of this season and watch them ascend to the major leagues.

With that out of the way, let’s get started.

Garcia_Ryan_052018_BSB_DL0123 — **Photo: Ryan Garcia/UCLABruins.com**

20) Ryan Garcia, RHP

Garcia was the ace of the 2019 UCLA Bruins pitching staff in 2019. The Rangers took him in the 2nd round of the 2019 draft. He was a walk-on at UCLA before compiling a 20-2 record with a 2.11 ERA over his time there. His senior year he was stellar. He was 10-1 with a 1.44 ERA and 117 strikeouts in 94 innings. He was named Pac 12 pitcher of the year. He signed with Texas for a $1,469,900 signing bonus. The Rangers apparently felt his workload was enough in college. He only pitched three innings of pro ball after signing.

Garcia will be 22 years old heading into this season. Expect to see him start the season in Hickory. If he is successful, he will move along quickly throughout the system. A good year for him would end in Down East. Frisco if he is great.

19) Ronny Henriquez, RHP

Henriquez is an interesting one to watch heading into 2020. Unlike most starting pitchers, Ronny is not a huge kid. He only stands 5’10 and weighs about 155 lbs. However, last year he was amazing playing against hitters nearly 3 years older than him. He will still only be 19 when the 2020 season begins. In 2018 he was 5-0 with a 1.55 ERA in the Dominican Summer League.

He spent the 2019 season in Hickory for his first swim of pro ball in the United States. He was 6-6 with a 4.50 starting 19 games for the Crawdads. He also made two appearances out of the bullpen. The eye-popping numbers were his velocity and strikeouts. He has a mid 90’s fastball and struck out 99 hitters in 82 innings.

Henriquez is still only 19, so I imagine he will start the season back in Hickory. But I fully expect him to be in Down East by the end of the season.

Phillips-3-Duncan-Stanley — *Photo: Frisco Roughriders (Tyler Phillips)*

18) Tyler Phillips, RHP

Phillips ended 2018 as the minor league pitcher of the year in the Rangers organization. He spent most of the year in Hickory with one start in Down East. His numbers were amazing. He went 12-5 with a 2.64 ERA in 22 starts. In 2019 he started in Down East again and picked up right where he left off. He started 6 games and was 2-2 with a 1.19 ERA. He was then promoted to Frisco where he struggled a bit. Most agree that the jump to AA is the hardest for a prospect to make. That proved true in Phillips’ case. He wasn’t horrible, but he wasn’t as good as his usual self. He started 16 games in Frisco and was 7-9 with a 4.73 ERA.

Tyler will start the season in Frisco’s rotation. He was also added to the 40 man roster this winter. It’s a long shot, but he might get a spot start this year if things fell a certain way. If not he will most likely not make his big league debut until 2021.

*Photo: Baseball America (Osleivis Basabe)*

17) Osleivis Basabe, SS/2B

Basabe is yet another international middle infielder that the Rangers organization likes to stock throughout their farm system. He will be 19 years old going into the 2020 season. Signed in 2017, Basabe had a very good 2018 in the Dominican Summer League. He hit .344 in 192 AB’s that year. In 2019 he made his first run through pro ball in the United States. He hit .325 in Arizona before heading out to Spokane for the playoffs and hit .300 over two games. He hasn’t shown a lot of power yet but the organization thinks he is on the verge of a breakout.

Osleivis should start 2020 at Hickory. I suspect he would spend all season there unless he does indeed breakout. He will not be 20 until September.

16) David Garcia, C

David Garcia is a name all Ranger fans should keep an eye on. He was an international signing in 2016 and has been impressive. Garcia and Sam Huff are the two legitimate catchers the Rangers have in their system.

Garcia will be 20 years old heading into 2020. His first year in America he played the entire time in Arizona. In his three seasons of pro ball, his OPS has steadily climbed along with his average. He also threw out 32% of baserunners.