Its AFL time!
The 2024 Arizona Fall League rosters have been announced, with eight Texas Rangers players being featured as part of the Surprise Saguaros roster.
The Rangers have five pitching prospects on the roster, and as is usually the case, they are primarily guys who missed significant time this summer due to injury. The five are:
Josh Stephan — 22 year old righthanded starter who was an undrafted free agent signed by the Rangers in 2020. Stephan put up a 4.94 ERA in 58 innings over 12 appearances for AA Frisco this year, but hasn’t pitched since early July due to back problems.
Marc Church — 23 year old righthanded reliever who was the Rangers’ 18th round draft pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, and who was added to the 40 man roster last winter. Church only threw 25 innings over 20 appearances due to shoulder issues that sidelined him from early April to early August.
Avery Weems — 27 year old lefthanded pitcher who was acquired by the Rangers from the Chicago White Sox in the Lance Lynn trade. Weems had Tommy John surgery in February, 2023, and didn’t pitch in game action until the beginning of this month.
Leandro Lopez — 22 year old righthanded pitcher who was signed in 2021 out of the Dominican Republic. After a nice stateside debut in 2023, he was promoted to Hickory for 2024 but only pitched five games before landing on the injured list in mid-May.
Skylar Hales — Our token healthy pitcher. 22 year old righthanded reliever who was a fourth round pick in 2023 out of Santa Clara. Hales threw 56 innings over 44 games between Hickory and Frisco this year, showing significant improvement as the season went along.
The three position players all come from the Frisco roster:
Cody Freeman — 23 year old infielder who was the Rangers’ 4th round pick in 2019. He played 123 games for Frisco, mostly at third base, with a .264/.321/.432 slash line.
Maximo Acosta — 21 year old infielder who was signed to a $1.65 million bonus out of Venezuela in July, 2021. He had his best season this year, slashing .288/.353/.425 for Frisco in 104 games.
Alejandro Osuna — 21 year old outfielder who was signed out of Mexico after the 2020 season. He slashed .292/.362/.507 in 102 games between Hickory and Frisco.