Texas Rangers First Ten Draft Picks Of 2014

Here is a list of the Rangers draft picks through the first ten rounds:

Round 1, pick 30 -- Luis Ortiz, RHP, Sanger HS (CA)

Round 2, pick 59 -- Tiquan Forbes, SS, Columbia HS (MS)

Round 3, pick 95 -- Josh Morgan, SS, Orange Lutheran HS (CA)

Round 4, pick 126 -- Brett Martin, LHP, Walters State CC 

Round 5, pick 156 -- Wes Benjamin, LHP, Kansas

Round 6, pick 186 -- Jose Trevino, 3B, Oral Roberts

Round 7, pick 216 -- Nick Green, RHP, Indian Hills CC 

Round 8, pick 246 -- Erik Swanson, RHP, Iowa Western CC 

Round 9, pick 276 -- Doug Votoloto, CF, Central Arkansas

Round 10, pick 306 -- Seth Spivey, C, Abilene Christian

Unfortunately, these are high school and college players, so I know next to nothing about them. If you would like some context into the draft class, Lonestarball has a good writeup with information you can actually use. 

However, if we're taking inventory, the Rangers took three high school prospects (in the first three rounds), and the rest are college players. There are three infielders -- though Tiquan Forbes could move to center field eventually -- a catcher and a toolsy outfielder, and five pitchers. 

Since the latest collective bargaining agreement, the Rule 4 draft isn't as cut-and-dry as it used to be, particularly with respect to draft pick compensation and the newly conceived slot values. Basically, instead of simply drafting the best player available and signing him to whatever he was worth, teams are now given a pool of money -- based on how much each respective slot in the draft is worth -- and they get to use it to sign picks in the first 11 rounds. So if the club drafts a couple, or several, prospects and signs them well below slot value, they can compile the difference and use it to help sign a pick who wants more than his slot. 

This might sound like nonsense by this point, but Joe Sheehan summed it up perfectly in his latest newsletter: 

From a team standpoint, draft isn't about taking individual players any more. It's about assembling the best package of players for the budget allowed -- it's Fantasy Rule 4 Draft. So while the players will be picked in order of some approximation of their projected future performance, there will be a lot of variance from pick to pick as some teams take the best available player, and others take the best available player who will sign for the amount that gives them flexibility with later picks.

There are still a ton of picks left to be made, but these are the ones worth remembering for now.