BREAKING: Texas Rangers top prospect to miss season?
By Wayne Cavadi
On the heels of the excitement of No. 1 prospect Joey Gallo’s fast start, the Texas Rangers found out some bad news early Saturday morning.
Alfaro — who celebrated his 22nd birthday on Thursday — is already in a walking boot and is expected to be out, at the very least, “for some meaningful time,” as Mike Daly, the Rangers director of player development told Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
The 22-year old was the No. 2 prospect to start the season for the Texas Rangers and with Gallo in the Majors, he easily became the crown jewel in the Rangers’ system. Alfaro was signed at the age of 17 back in 2010 out of Colombia. Entering 2015, he was ranked as low as No. 67 in Baseball America’s Top 100 and as high as No. 31 by Baseball Prospectus. We here at Grading on the Curve felt that Alfaro was the Rangers best option at catcher coming into 2015.
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Since drafted Alfaro has made a name for himself featuring raw power and a cannon of an arm. As MLB Trade Rumors points out, the reason he is still only at Double-A is that he has problems controlling both.
It hasn’t stopped Alfaro from earning many accolades over the first six years of his career. He has been at the MLB Futures Stars game in consecutive years, has been a Mid-Season All Star in back-to-back seasons at two different levels, and has made both the All-Prospect and Rising Stars Teams in his Arizona Fall League debut. On his career, Alfaro has slashed .261/.325/.432 with 52 home runs.
The injury occurred Wednesday night when he was legging out a double in the fourth inning of the game against San Antonio. He was lifted for a pinch runner and then seen in a walking boot. Alex Vispoli, voice of Alfaro’s Frisco RoughRiders, tweeted out two updates as the events unfolded.
Jorge Alfaro exits w/ what appears to be a lower left leg injury. Looked like he awkwardly tried to shift direction on a secondary lead.
— Alex Vispoli (@Vispoli) June 11, 2015
Several minutes later he would add to the update:
He was favoring his left side as he walked off with the Frisco trainer. Almost like he jammed it on a stop & go maneuver
— Alex Vispoli (@Vispoli) June 11, 2015
Alfaro is currently on the 7-day disabled list. At this point it is a wait and see game. The Rangers, of course, are hoping the damage is minimal and Alfaro can return by season’s end. Should the dreaded surgery be in the cards, however, this would be a he blow to the Rangers farm system.
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