Yesterday was the first round of the 2026 player draft. The Rangers are all giddy about their pick. With the sixteenth pick in the draft, they were able to snag a kid who was ranked as eighth best prospect. That’s pretty good value. 

His name is Gio Rojas, and he’s a left-handed pitcher who throws in the very high 90s, came out of high school in Parkland, Florida. Rojas just turned 19 in June, he’s 6-foot, 4-inches, and had an ERA of 0.54 in his senior year of high school. 

Rojas has an offer to pitch for the University of Miami, but is expected to turn that down to start his pro career. 

Texas hasn’t had a whole lot of success drafting and developing pitchers. Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker might be the biggest successes they’ve had in the past twenty years, and both are still major works in progress. Drafting pitching has been difficult for this organization. Hopefully Rojas can be an exception.

The Rangers could use some good luck when it comes to pitching. 

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