Kevin Goldstein takes a look back at his AL West rankings, including the Rangers. Goldstein had Feliz, a long time favorite of his, ranked above Martin Perez and Justin Smoak, and that seems to have been justified. Perez, by all accounts, hasn't really lost any prospect status, but he did struggle quite a bit as a teenager in Double-A. Smoak hit right around the Mendoza line before being dealt for Cliff Lee.
↵Tanner Scheppers was his #4, as he was for most, and his early season domination and late season swoon were well documented. He ranked Jurickson Profar fifth, something that opened a lot of eyes at the time and looks like an excellent choice. Daniel Gutierrez, Mitch Moreland, Michael Main, Engel Beltre, Wilmer Font and Robbie Ross rounded out his list, with Shawn Blackwell as his sleeper.
↵About Beltre, he says:
↵↵↵Outfielder Engel Beltre (ninth) began to turn his tools into skills with what was the comeback story of the year in the organization.
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As for the other AL West teams, KG had Mike Trout first for the Angels, and that was certainly the right choice. His guy Michael Ynoa went down with an elbow tear, and his top choice for the A's was Chris Carter. One of my larger criticisms of his rankings last winter was his complete omission of Michael Pineda, and he admits that, at the least, he should have had him on the list in place of Maikel Cleto, while his inclusion of Guillermo Pimentel, despite some worrisome early reports, looks like a good move.
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