His name is Max Acosta.
A quick story, five years in the making.
Between 2016 and 2019, the Rangers and Padres carved out several days from their Fall Instructional League programs in Arizona to meet up at Petco Park in San Diego. The field trip would feature a series of games in a ballpark significantly larger than any stadium most of the players had ever played in — and in many cases, had ever been in.
In the final two of those years, I was able to line up my travel plans so that I could make it not only to Surprise for a couple days but to Petco as well. In 2018, outfielder Bubba Thompson (the Rangers’ 2017 first-round pick) and relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase (who had just completed his Short-Season A debut with the Rangers after three seasons with the Padres) starred. The following year, it was outfielder Heriberto Hernandez and righty A.J. Alexy who stood out (although this 10 seconds of Kenny Holmberg sound from the postgame clubhouse was also something I’ll never forget).
But it was another player during that 2019 visit to San Diego who blew me away. A player who had yet to make his minor-league debut.