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The Rangers and No. 3 general draft choose Kumar Rocker have agreed to phrases on a $5.2MM bonus, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Put up. The correct-hander’s bonus clocks in effectively south of the choose’s $7,587,600 slot worth, which ought to afford the Rangers flexibility additional down their board. Rocker is represented by the Boras Company.
Rocker was the No. 10 general choose by the Mets a yr in the past and was reportedly set to ink a $6MM bonus earlier than medical considerations scuttled that deal. He’d finally go on to have an arthroscopic process on his proper shoulder final August. Quite than returning to Vanderbilt for his senior season, Rocker as a substitute opted to pitch for the Tri-Metropolis Valley Cats of the impartial Frontier League (an official associate league of MLB). Well being hasn’t seemed to be a difficulty in any respect for Rocker this time yr; he’s pitched 20 innings for the Valley Cats and turned in a 1.35 ERA with a dominant 32-to-4 Ok/BB ratio whereas reportedly operating his heater again as much as 99 mph.
The choice by the Rangers improbably reunites Vanderbilt’s 2021 co-aces, as Texas took right-hander Jack Leiter with the No. 2 general choose within the draft simply final season. Leiter and Rocker had been extensively considered as two of the highest arms in final yr’s draft — evidenced by their top-ten picks — and can now give the Rangers a pair of high-ceiling arms upon which to construct. (Leiter actually appears happy with the Rangers’ choice, celebrating the choose with a pair of tweets final evening.)
Rocker, 22, starred alongside Leiter for the whole lot of his three years at Vanderbilt, pitching to a 2.89 ERA with a 33.2% strikeout charge and a 7.8% stroll charge in 236 1/3 innings for the Commodores in a troublesome SEC setting. The 6’5″, 245-pound righty has an upper-90s heater, and scouting studies from Baseball America, The Athletic, ESPN, MLB.com and FanGraphs credit score him with a slider that attracts 60 to 70 grades on the 20-80 scale. Rocker has additionally labored with a curveball and changeup, each drawing not less than common scores in most studies.
Whereas Rocker was probably the most recognizable names on this yr’s draft, his choice at No. 3 general nonetheless registered as a draft-night shock. Most rankings had him as a late first-rounder and even within the second spherical, contemplating final summer season’s shoulder surgical procedure and a few oft-cited inconsistency in his stuff at Vanderbilt. The Rangers had been clearly heartened by Rocker’s sturdy exhibiting within the Frontier League, and so they’ll additionally now have the choice to make use of the financial savings on their No. 3 choice to scoop up some lingering, hard-to-sign abilities who stay on the board.
Regardless of choosing at No. 3, Texas entered the draft with simply the 14th-largest bonus pool — a mirrored image of the truth that they surrendered their second- and third-round picks (and the related bonus pool allotments) to signal free brokers Corey Seager and Marcus Semien this previous winter. Due to these forfeitures, Rocker stays the one choice Texas has made to date. The Rangers’ subsequent choose will are available Spherical 4, and there are nonetheless a number of extremely regarded highschool choices on the board, headlined by Clemson-committed righty Brock Porter, who’s thought to be a first-round expertise however was not chosen on Day 1 of the draft.
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