Why the Texas Rangers should take Tré Morgan in the first round

There is zero chance that the Texas Rangers will be able to pick up either Paul Skenes or Dylan Crews in the MLB Draft. Both of those players will go first and second overall and even if one is overlooked, the Detroit Tigers will pounce on them.

When the draft rolls around to the fourth pick, the choices are likely to be Florida’s Wyatt Langford or high schoolers Max Clark and Walker Jenkins. But the Rangers ought to look further outside the box.

And to be fair to the Rangers R&D team, they are. Confirming to MLB.com that TCU’s Brayden Taylor and Wake Forest RHP Rhett Lowder are still in the discussion, Rangers longtime senior director of amateur scouting Kip Fagg said, “I’d say probably up in that room, probably there’s five-to-seven guys we’re talking about. Not to get too specific on who those players are, but it’s probably that range of players.”

One of the players that the Rangers should be looking at is LSU first baseman Tré Morgan.

Projected to go early in the second round, Morgan has future Gold Glove fielding ability and the only concern expressed by MLB scouts is his lack of power with the bat. Or really, that should be lack of perceived power.

First base is a position that carries an expectation in MLB, much as center field does, that home runs will simply flow off the bat. But allow me to present the dissenting argument.

Power comes later. Learn to hit first, and then develop power. I know that is the opposite of the current view in MLB, where power hitters who have low averages are the new normal. But it is far easier to develop power in a contact hitter than to try and teach a power hitter to make contact.

Tré Morgan is an elite defender and has the best, and I do mean THE BEST, bat-to-ball contact hitting ability in college baseball. His eye for the ball is uncanny, and he rarely swings and misses. He is discerning at the plate. In short, he can hit.

And his lack of power is not as grave as it may appear. In fact, it may not even exist. Morgan hit only nine home runs over the course of the 69 game season, which equates to 21 home runs over the span of an MLB season. That is exactly how many home runs Freddie Freeman hit last year.

The Rangers are all-in on pitching at the moment, and it is certainly paying off for them this season. Plus Nathaniel Lowe is having an outstanding season at first base. But drafts are all about the future, what lies two or three years down the road.

Tré Morgan is perhaps the most promising development project in the draft today. He will certainly win accolades for whoever picks him up. It would be outstanding if that team could be Texas.