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The Five Best MLB Draft Picks in Texas Rangers History
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- The Five Best MLB Draft Picks in Texas Rangers History
A view of the Texas Rangers logo. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Putting together a Major League draft class is a thankless task. Only a select few baseball people get to do it every year.
This July, the task falls to Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young, his general manager, Ross Fenstermaker, and their staff to put together the best possible draft class when the league convenes in Philadelphia July 11-12 for this year's MLB draft.
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Below are the five best draft picks in Texas Rangers history. In this case, it doesn't matter if they finished their career with the Rangers or not. It's based on the quality of the player, the quality of their career and, yes, in part measures their impact on the franchise. The players are in chronological order of when they were selected.
Jim Sundberg (first round, 1973)
Former Texas Rangers player Jim Sundberg (right) with Jon Daniels and Thad Levine. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
"Sunny" was one of the first players to be inducted into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and once he made it to the Majors, he became synonymous with the franchise for decades. Texas picked him twice - in the eighth round of the 1972 draft and then in the first round of the 1973 MLB draft secondary phase. That's because he opted to go back to Iowa for another year.
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Sundberg only needed a season to get to the Majors and was as fourth in 1974 AL rookie of the year voting. He was a two-time All-Star and won six AL Gold Gloves from 1976-81. He was that Rangers era's "Pudge" Rodriguez. In 12 years with the Rangers, he slashed .252.330/.345 with 60 home runs and 480 RBI.
He was dealt in an insane four-team traded that landed him in Milwaukee in 1984. Sundberg then landed in Kansas City in 1985 and helped the Royals win their first World Series. He remained part of the organization for decades as a television commentator and in the front office.
Kenny Rogers (39th round, 1982)
Former Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers. | USA TODAY Sports
Nicknamed "The Gambler," he might be the greatest draft value in Rangers history. By the end of his Major League career, he played 20 years, pitched for the Rangers three different times and had a career record of 219-156 with a 4.27 ERA. Not bad for a guy that received a $1,000 bonus out of Plant City High School in Florida.
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He made it to the Rangers as a reliever seven years after he was drafted and was converted to a starter. He threw the franchise's only perfect game on June 28, 1994. He was a four-time All-Star, won a World Series ring with the New York Yankees , and, like Sundberg, is in the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame.
Kevin Brown (first round, 1986)
Texas Rangers pitcher Kevin Brown. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Using the bWAR tool, no Rangers first-round pick has a higher one than Brown (67.8). He was drafted No. 4 overall out of Georgia Tech and debuted with the Rangers later that year. Gifted and temperamental, he came close to harnessing his full potential with the Rangers on a staff that included Nolan Ryan. His first eight seasons were in Texas, where he went 78-64 with a 3.81 ERA. He struck out 742 hitters. He was sixth in AL rookie of the year voting in 1989 and finished sixth in AL Cy Young voting in 1992, as he went 21-11 with a 3.32 ERA.
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The Rangers couldn't hang onto him. He signed with Baltimore as a free agent in 1995 and was an ace for hire for the rest of his career. His pitched for six other teams, won a World Series ring with the 1997 Florida Marlins and played 19 seasons. He finished with a record of 211-144 with a 3.28 ERA with 2,397 strikeouts. He finished in the Top 6 in Cy Young voting six times but never won the award.
Mark Teixeira (First Round, 2001)
Texas Rangers first baseman Mark Teixeira. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Rangers seemed to like Georgia Tech products. Teixeira, a first baseman, was the No. 5 overall pick and he needed longer than Brown to make his MLB debut. He did so in 2003. He was an immediate impact player for the Rangers. He was fifth in AL rookie of the year voting in 2003, was seventh in AL MVP voting in 2005, played in an All-Star Game, won a Silver Slugger and two Gold Gloves. His five-year numbers are some of the best in Rangers history - a slash of .283/.368/.533 with 153 home runs and 499 RBI.
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Unable to get him into an extension valued at $140 million, the Rangers traded him at the 2007 deadline to the Atlanta Braves . The impact of that deal was lasting. The Rangers acquired Jarrod Saltalamacchia , Elvis Andrus , Matt Harrison , Neftal Feliz and Beau Jones. Andrus is a Rangers Hall of Famer and he, along with Harrison and Feliz, helped Texas go to the World Series in 2010 and 2011.
He later won a World Series ring with the New York Yankees and 409 home runs in a 14-year career before retirement.
Ian Kinsler (17th round, 2003)
Texas Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
On a different planet, Kinsler would have ended up somewhere else. He was drafted three times but the first two times he opted for college. The Rangers snagged him the third time around and he became a cornerstone of back-to-back World Series teams. He is also in the Rangers Hall of Fame.
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He made his MLB debut with the Rangers in 2006 and played for the franchise for eight seasons. He made the AL All-Star team three times, was seventh in AL rookie of the year voting and 11th in AL MVP voting in 2011. He is best known for hitting for the cycle and going 6-for-6, one of four players in baseball history to accomplish the feat.
Texas traded him in 2013 for Prince Fielder . He played for the Detroit Tigers , the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels . With the Red Sox he won his elusive World Series ring in 2018. He finished his career with the San Diego Padres in 2019 with a career slash was .269/.337/.440 with 257 home runs and 909 RBI.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/rangers/onsi as The Five Best MLB Draft Picks in Texas Rangers History .
