The Texas Rangers used to consistently have baseball's best farm system back in the late 2000s, before they went to two straight World Series. Those lists included names like Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz and before them, Edinson Volquez.
When the Rangers got really good, their prospect status dipped a bit due to guys being in the bigs and other guys being traded for missing pieces.
Now, the Rangers' system is gaining some pretty serious league-wide respect again, and the two leading sources of farm system evaluation released their mid-season top 50 prospect lists earlier this week with a pretty heavy Rangers presence.
Baseball Prospectus released their list on Monday, and it put slugger Joey Gallo at No. 5 in all of baseball, followed by quickly rising outfielder Nomar Mazara at No. 6, again, in all of baseball. Outfielder Nick Williams was listed at No. 21 on the list.
Baseball America had three Rangers in their midseason top 50 list, as well, as Gallo checked in at No. 3 and Mazara was placed at No. 34. Right-handed starter Jake Thompson, who was acquired last year from Detroit for Joakim Soria, was listed as the No. 49 prospect.
Here's the thing about prospects, not all of the aforementioned names will ever see time in a Rangers uniform. All will likely make the big leagues at some point, but some will be trade bait, quite possibly this summer or this winter.
