Baseball America released their 2011 Top 100 prospects rankings today - something that really signals the beginning of baseball season. The Texas Rangers landed three prospects in the list - Martin Perez, Jurickson Profar and Tanner Scheppers.
↵Perez is Texas' only prospect in the top 50 this year, being ranked as the 24th best prospect. Perez struggled mightily in AA as a 19 year old, with opposing hitters batting .290 against him. Still, Baseball America's staff thinks highly of Perez, as most do. Despite the struggles in AA, Perez still struck out more than a batter an inning, fanning 101 batters in 99.2 innings of work.
↵Profar is next for Texas on the top 100, coming in at No. 74. Profar only put up a .696 OPS in Class A Short-Season last year - but as always with prospects, raw statistics don't tell the whole story. Profar just recently turned 18, and by all accounts has an excellent makeup as well as a very good skill set. Profar should be climbing the rankings in the coming years as he progresses through the minor leagues, and it's extremely encouraging that he's a top 100 prospect at age 18.
↵Lastly for Texas, Tanner Scheppers appears on the top 100, coming in at No. 84. Scheppers will likely be up with the Rangers at some point this year, so this is likely the last time the 24-year-old will be eligible for the top 100. BA grades Scheppers' fastball as his best tool/pitch, rating it as a 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale.