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Prospects for a Happy New Year.

By Jamey Newberg | Sunday, January 01, 2012

It was a fantastic year of Texas Rangers baseball, the best one yet.  And another tremendous month of book sales to finish out the year, and I thank you all for that.

The calendar’s no reason, of course, that you can’t still grab a Bound Edition or T-shirt for yourself or the Rangers fans in your circle.  The word “Darvish” even shows up 22 times in the book, even though the story ends three days after the final baseball played in 2011, more than six weeks before Nippon Ham announced it would post the 25-year-old righthander.

Darvish doesn’t, however, show up in this year’s Newberg Report serving of black-eyed peas, the annual January 1^st disconnect that is the ranking of the top 72 Rangers prospects you’ll find on Page 3 of the book.

Then again, Darvish wouldn’t be on the list now, either, because he’s not yet a Ranger.

And he’d never be on the list, anyway, because even if he’s eligible for Rookie of the Year consideration in 2012, it would seem sorta silly to consider him a prospect at all.

But if you’d like, you can move the first 54 guys down one slot each, removing number 55 Ryan Kelly (who was traded to San Diego a week and a half ago), and plug Darvish in at number 1.

1. Jurickson Profar, SS
2. Martin Perez, LHP
3. Mike Olt, 3B
4. Leonys Martin, OF
5. Jorge Alfaro, C
6. David Perez, RHP
7. Ronald Guzman, 1B
8. Neil Ramirez, RHP
9. Tanner Scheppers, RHP
10. Jordan Akins, OF
11. Rougned Odor, 2B
12. Nomar Mazara, OF
13. Christian Villanueva, 3B
14. Cody Buckel, RHP
15. Luke Jackson, RHP
16. Robbie Ross, LHP
17. Matt West, RHP
18. Will Lamb, LHP
19. Miguel De Los Santos, LHP
20. Kevin Matthews, LHP
21. Jake Skole, OF
22. Luis Sardinas, SS
23. Roman Mendez, RHP
24. Barret Loux, RHP
25. Engel Beltre, OF
26. Justin Grimm, RHP
27. Zach Cone, OF
28. Tomas Telis, C
29. Odubel Herrera, 2B
30. Kellin Deglan, C
31. Leury Garcia, SS
32. Victor Payano, LHP
33. Wilmer Font, RHP
34. Johan Yan, RHP
35. Yohander Mendez, LHP
36. Hanser Alberto, SS
37. Fabio Castillo, RHP
38. Mark Hamburger, RHP
39. Jake Brigham, RHP
40. Nick Tepesch, RHP
41. Luis Marte, SS
42. Jose Felix, C
43. Kyle Hendricks, RHP
44. Ryan Strausborger, OF
45. Justin Miller, RHP
46. Drew Robinson, 3B
47. Jared Hoying, OF
48. Teodoro Martinez, OF
49. Carlos Melo, RHP
50. Matt Thompson, RHP
51. Francisco Mendoza, RHP
52. Chris Garia, OF
53. Jose Valdespina, RHP
54. Wilfredo Boscan, RHP
55. Ryan Kelly, RHP
56. Chad Bell, LHP
57. Joey Butler, OF
58. Cody Eppley, RHP
59. Tommy Mendonca, 3B
60. Chris McGuiness, 1B
61. Joseph Ortiz, LHP
62. Abel De Los Santos, RHP
63. Trevor Hurley, RHP
64. Ovispo De Los Santos, RHP
65. Corey Young, LHP
66. Chad Tracy, 1B
67. Santiago Chirino, 2B-3B
68. Ryan Rodebaugh, RHP
69. Geuris Grullon, LHP
70. Chris Hanna, LHP
71. Jimmy Reyes, LHP
72. Andrew Clark, 1B

Happy New Year.

And Happy Near-Yu.

(And I wasn’t even over-served last night.)