Cole Ragans Stats & Scouting Report College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects

BA Grade/Risk: 40/Medium

Track Record: Ragans' ascent to the big leagues was one of the best stories in the minor leagues in 2022. After being drafted in the first round in 2016 and debuting the next spring,two Tommy John surgeries and the pandemic kept him off the mound until 2021, when he also made the Futures Game. He made his major league debut on August 4 and made nine starts, working to a mark of 0-3, 5.40.

Scouting Report: After all the time recovering, it's only natural that Ragans' rust-removal process would be lengthy. More than that, the Rangers also noticed that he learned to better pace himself throughout the season in order to maintain the crispness on his stuff from Opening Day until season's end. Ragans operates with a four-pitch mix led by a 92-95 mph fastball that touched 96. His best offspeed pitch is a potentially plus changeup in the 82-84 mph range that he threw for plenty of strikes both in the zone and for chases. His repertoire also featured mid-70s curveball of varying quality and a new cutter in the low 90s that he can manipulate to make look like a slider with deeper break. Both the curve and the cutter project to be fringe-average to average, and the Rangers would like to see him add more power to both. He struggled a bit with fastball command down the stretch but overall showed average control.

The Future: If he continues to add more power to his mix, Ragans could carve out a career as a back-end starter. He'll likely see plenty of big league time in 2023.

Scouting Grades: Fastball: 55. Curveball: 45. Changeup: 60. Cut: 50. Control: 50

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