ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers today announced the signings of four additional players selected in last week’s 2022 Major League Baseball Draft.
Agreeing to terms were shortstop Chandler Pollard (5th round), outfielder Tommy Specht (6th round), right-handed pitcher Luis Ramirez (7th round), and right-handed pitcher Andrew Owen (14th round). With these signings, the Rangers have 12 of their 18 draft selections under contract, including each of their top 10 picks. The deadline for signing 2022 draft picks is Monday, August 1.
SS CHANDLER POLLARD (5th round, 139th overall) – Pollard, 18, finished his senior season at Woodward Academy in College Park, Ga. with 59 steals over 61 attempts, leading the state and ranking 6th in the nation among prepsters. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound infielder/outfielder batted .521 (49-94) with 11 home runs, 4 triples, 12 doubles, and 36 RBI across 31 games this spring, guiding the War Eagles to a 24-9 record. Pollard, who had committed to play collegiately at Washington State University, was tabbed as the no. 110 and no. 112 prospect in this year’s draft class by MLB Pipeline and Baseball America, respectively. He is the first player drafted from Woodward Academy since former Rangers outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. was selected by Houston in the 1st round (8th overall) of the 2010 MLB Draft.
OF TOMMY SPECHT (6th round, 169th overall) – Specht, 18, opted out of his senior season at Wahlert Catholic High School in Dubuque, Iowa, and instead played for the Clinton LumberKings of the Prospect League, a collegiate summer baseball league. He also participated in the Perfect Game All-American Classic. In his last high school season as a junior, Specht had a .439 batting average, 1.237 OPS, 2 home runs, 2 triples, 5 doubles, and 14 RBI, helping the Golden Eagles to a Class 3-A state runner-up finish. Specht was committed to the University of Kentucky. This marks the second straight year for the Rangers to draft a player out of Wahlert Catholic, following the selection of catcher Ian Moller (4th round, 2021).
RHP LUIS RAMIREZ (7th round, 199th overall) – Ramirez, 21, went 2-1 with a 2.14 ERA at Long Beach State University in 2022, limited to just 7 starts while battling a shoulder injury for most of conference play. He was twice named Big West Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 21 and March 21) and earned National Pitcher of the Week honors (Feb. 21) after six no-hit innings on Feb. 18 against the defending national champions, third-ranked Mississippi State. The 2020 Collegiate Baseball All-American finished his college career with an 8-5 record, 3.38 ERA, and 123 strikeouts in 125.1 innings, as his 8.83 strikeouts per 9 innings rate currently ranks as 8th-best in program history.
RHP ANDREW OWEN (14th round, 409th overall) – Owen, 20, did not pitch this spring after enrolling at Grossmont College in El Cajon, Calif. prior to the 2022 season. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound right-hander spent his freshman campaign at Baylor University, where he made just two scoreless relief appearances and was a 2021 Academic All-Big 12 Rookie Team selection. Owen was rated by Perfect Game as the no. 200 prospect and 69th-best right-handed pitcher in the 2020 recruiting class after splitting his prep career between Turlock (Calif.) High School (2020, 2017-18) and Jesuit High School in Sacramento (2019). He registered a 1.30 ERA and 21 strikeouts over 10.0 innings in a shortened 2020 season at Turlock.
From Texas Rangers PR staff reports