Feeling rocked by Rocker
Good morning. Imagine telling yourself in like April 2021 that the Texas Rangers would have both Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker in the organization some 15 months later.
That’s where we are today (assuming Rocker signs) and it makes for an excellent story that will certainly be one of the major non-Seager/Semien signings aspects of this era of the franchise for as long as they both remain with Texas, good or bad.
We’ll get this out of the way: Evan Grant writes about the now long forgotten memory of the Rangers’ getting swept by the Mariners to close out the season’s first half.
Anthony Castrovince looks at the top moments of the first day of the MLB Draft where the Rangers’ out-of-nowhere selection of Rocker made them the lead story.
Jeff Wilson writes about the Rangers rocking the draft with Rocker whom Texas identified as an elite competitor.
Kennedi Landry writes about Rocker’s journey from maybe the world’s most famous amateur baseball player to No. 3 overall surprise.
Levi Weaver offers a bevy of quotes from the front office on the decision to break the draft and take on the risk of selecting Rocker.
Grant writes that the Rangers drafted a pitcher who has the talent and pedigree but with medicals that are a mystery.
R.J. Anderson takes a look at why picking Rocker at No. 3 overall is considered such a mock draft-obliterating surprise and one that FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen called the biggest draft shock of his professional lifetime.
Dave Schoenfield tackles making sense of the Rocker selection for ESPN from their analysis of the first round.
It wouldn’t be the day after a first round of a professional sports draft without some grades as Anderson & Mike Axisa give the Rangers a C for reaching for Rocker.
Keith Law has thoughts on each first round pick which includes the “metaphorical grenade” that Texas tossed at the first round last night.
A couple of weeks ago, Jim Callis wrote about the medical reports that teams received on Rocker which make for an interesting read now that the Rangers have taken him.
Also, a few days ago, ESPN’s Tim Keown had a piece on watching scouts as they did their work scouting Rocker during his stint with Tri-City in the Frontier League that feels like required reading today.
And, lastly, the festivities continue with Corey Seager set to face off against Julio Rodriguez in the Home Run Derby later tonight. Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru offers a preview via MLB dot com.
Have a nice day!