Texas Rangers Top 20 Prospects: No. 11

No. 11: Jake Skole

OF - L/R
6-1 - 190 - 1/17/92
Woodstock, GA

Jake Skole was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round, 15th overall, in the 2010 baseball amateur draft.

Skole signed quickly and started the season with the Arizona League Rangers. He appeared in eight games and compiled eight hits in 28 at-bats.

Skole played the rest of the season with the Spokane Indians. He played in 57 games with the Indians hitting two home runs with 27 RBIs and a .254 batting average.

 

Jamey Newberg’s profile on Jake Skole:
Jake Skole, OF

Given that Skole played so little as a high school senior in 2010 due to a high ankle sprain, it would have fully made sense for the Rangers to have given him a one-way ticket to Surprise after he quickly signed (forgoing an opportunity to play baseball and football at Georgia Tech), with the message that he'd spend two-and-a-half months in the Arizona League playing against other teenagers, after which the organization would convene there for Fall Instructs. But as the club is so often with its top prospects, Texas was aggressive with the 18-year-old, getting him acclimated in the AZL for about a week and a half (.286/.394/.357) before reassigning him to Short-Season A Spokane, where he'd spend the remaining two months of the season facing players mostly three years older, hitting a respectable .254/.327/.348 (.288/.350/.405 against righthanders). Baseball America ranked the left-handed hitter as the Northwest League's number 13 prospect (despite being the circuit's third-youngest position player), noting that he stood out physically among his college-aged competition. Skole played center field for the Indians and hit all over the order, holding his own to such an extent that a 2011 assignment to Low A Hickory out of the chute wouldn't come as a surprise.

No. 12: C Jorge Alfaro
No. 13: RHP Fabio Castillo
No. 14: RHP Joe Wieland
No. 15: RHP Matt Thompson
No. 16: RHP Luke Jackson
No. 17: 3B Christian Villanueva
No. 18: LHP Miguel De Los Santos
No. 19: 3B Mike Olt
No. 20: RHP Omar Beltre