The Texas Rangers have made their first round selection with the fifteenth pick of the 2018 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft and it is right handed pitcher Cole Winn out of Lutheran High School in Orange, California.

Clearly, the organization has struggled to find and develop quality young pitching over the years and the 18-year-old will face some immense pressure to succeed as Jon Daniels and the rest of the staff throughout the team’s system will look to hit on this first round draft pick.

Joey Gallo is the only player the Rangers have selected in the first round since pitcher Tanner Scheppers in 2009 that has developed into a regular starter at the Major League level.

Cole Winn was ranked as the #9 draft prospect on MLB.com and was projected to go 11th overall on CBS Sport’s mock draft.  He previously attended high school in Colorado before transferring to Southern California for his senior season.  Lutheran High School in Orange is interestingly only about 8 miles away from Angels Stadium in Anaheim and Silver Creek High School, where he won the Colorado Player of the Year, is about 38 miles away from Coors Field in downtown Denver.

Here are some notable tweets about the Rangers first round selection:

Rangers select Cole Winn, RHP from Orange Lutheran High School. Same school that Gerritt Cole attended.

— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) June 5, 2018

My best comp for Cole Winn is a combination of Cole Hamels and Randy Winn

— Jared Sandler (@JaredSandler) June 5, 2018

 

This is a dream scenario for Rangers. They have long liked Winn. They did not think any chance he got to them.

— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) June 5, 2018

Get your first look at the Rangers future with 2018 pick @cole_winn. #MLBDraft pic.twitter.com/3Ncnlu5qaQ

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) June 5, 2018

In other draft news with ties to north Texas, former Allen High School and current University of Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray was selected 9th overall by the Oakland Athletics.

While any draft pick in professional baseball is far from a sure thing, the Rangers seem to have lucked out to have Winn fall to them at pick 15.  It may be several years, if ever, if Winn is able to make an impact at the major league level, but the hope and expectations are already present for him to come up big for the franchise in an area of the roster that could not be more starved for young talent.