My top 72 Texas Rangers prospects.

My top 72 Rangers prospects, as laid out (with detailed commentary on each player) in the 2009 Bound Edition – which was released less than four weeks ago but has already had more copies sold than any of the previous nine books, thanks to you all:

1. Derek Holland, LHP37. Zach Phillips, LHP2. Neftali Feliz, RHP38. Johnny Whittleman, 3B3. Justin Smoak, 1B39. Manny Pina, C4. Michael Main, RHP40. Tomas Telis, C5. Elvis Andrus, SS41. Jared Hyatt, RHP6. Taylor Teagarden, C42. Joseph Ortiz, LHP7. Martin Perez, LHP43. Jake Brigham, RHP 8. Max Ramirez, C44. Geuris Grullon, LHP9. Engel Beltre, OF45. Joaquin Arias, IF10. Blake Beavan, RHP46. Chad Tracy, 1B-OF 11. Julio Borbon, OF47. Andrew Laughter, RHP12. Neil Ramirez, RHP48. Mark Hamburger, RHP13. Wilfredo Boscan, RHP49. Mike Ballard, LHP 14. Eric Hurley, RHP50. Mike Bianucci, OF 15. Kasey Kiker, LHP51. Kyle Ocampo, RHP 16. Wilmer Font, RHP52. Tim Smith, OF 17. Omar Poveda, RHP53. Jose Felix, C18. Jose Vallejo, IF54. Brennan Garr, RHP19. Tommy Hunter, RHP55. Matt West, 3B20. Joe Wieland, RHP56. Joey Butler, OF 21. Mitch Moreland, 1B-OF-LHP57. Evan Reed, RHP22. Tim Murphy, LHP58. Leonel De Los Santos, C23. Kennil Gomez, RHP59. Glenn Swanson, LHP24. Robbie Ross, LHP60. Miguel De Los Santos, LHP25. Doug Mathis, RHP61. Ben Harrison, OF26. Fabio Castillo, RHP 62. Richard Bleier, LHP27. Cristian Santana, OF63. Josh Lueke, RHP28. Carlos Pimentel, RHP64. Ian Gac, 1B29. Clark Murphy, 1B 65. Steve Murphy, OF30. Thomas Diamond, RHP66. David Paisano, OF31. John Mayberry Jr., OF67. Michael Schlact, RHP32. Marcus Lemon, 2B68. Emerson Frostad, C-IF33. Renny Osuna, IF69. Juan Polanco, OF34. Beau Jones, LHP70. Jared Bolden, OF-1B35. John Bannister, RHP71. Tanner Roark, RHP36. Corey Young, LHP 72. Reinier Bermudez, RHP

A few notes: Only players who still have rookie eligibility were considered, which is why Chris Davis, Matt Harrison, and Warner Madrigal, for example, don't show up. Free agents at the time I went to print (examples: A.J. Murray, Brian Gordon, Bill White, and Kendy Batista) were not considered. Neither were Pedro Strop or Greg Golson or Guillermo Moscoso or Carlos Melo, each of whom was acquired too late to include in the book's rankings. (Similarly, John Mayberry Jr. shows up on the list.) Neither was 27-year-old righthander Casey Daigle, the veteran of 20 big league appearances for Arizona whom Baseball America reports has signed a minor league deal with the Rangers. If there wasn't already enough pressure on the two-year-old son of Casey and his wife – the Most Famous Softball Pitcher in the World Jennie Finch – the couple named him Ace Shane Daigle. Twenty-three-year-old righthander Ryan Tatusko was eligible, but he wasn't mad enough about the snub to refuse to carry the torch lit by Spike Lundberg in 2000 and later passed on to John Hudgins, C.J. Wilson, Jason Andrew, and most recently Michael Schlact. Ryan, who pitched for Spokane in 2007 and Clinton in 2008, has agreed to write a Minor Leaguer's Diary for the Newberg Report. He'll kick it off as spring training gets underway, and if you've ever met Ryan, you know this is gonna be good. I was the only one among all the national publications and local papers and blogs to have Chris Davis number one this time last year (see http://rangers.scottlucas.com/site/08prospects.htm for a rundown of everyone's rankings). I'm not going to be alone having Derek Holland number one this year, but I'll be in the extreme minority. To me, the first tier of this group goes seven deep. And yet you could probably make an argument that the players who sit at eight, nine, 10, and 11 could conceivably be the number one prospect in some other organization. There are lots of reasons to get excited about the names on this list. Here's one we don't talk about enough: With the notable exception of Justin Smoak, who one year from now could find himself on lists of the best 10 prospects in baseball, notice that every player in the top 20 above fits the "strength up the middle" model. The biggest jumps from my Top 72 a year ago are Martin Perez (from 55 to 7), Derek Holland (40 to 1), and Wilfredo Boscan (39 to 13), three pitchers who didn't appear on BA's top 30 list or anyone else's list this time last year. Who could make that dramatic a leap in 2009, moving from column two to the top half of column one? Tough to predict, of course, since not an inning has been played since I decided to put the column two players in column two, but let's go with Richard Bleier, Tomas Telis, Mike Bianucci, and Tim Smith, plus two righthanders who weren't on my list at all – Melo (who was acquired in the Gerald Laird trade but probably would have landed somewhere in the late 30's for me) and Matt Thompson, the 2008 seventh-rounder whose 8.1-inning introduction to pro ball (11.88 ERA, .481 opponents' average, seven wild pitches) was rough but whose upside began to show itself at Fall Instructs. Happy New Year to you and those close to you. Thanks for helping make 2008, for me, easily the most rewarding year yet for the Newberg Report. =========================================================== To join the free Newberg Report mailing list so you can get e-mail deliveries of every edition of the newsletter, daily minor league game recaps, and frequent Newberg Report News Flashes, go to www.newbergreport.com and click the "Mailing List" link on the top menu bar. (c) Jamey Newberg http://www.newbergreport.com If you want to be removed from this list, please e-mail me at newbergreport@sbcglobal.net