Pedro Payano

For the first few years of his professional career, Payano was an afterthought in the Rangers' loaded minor league system. Following two impressive seasons with Low-A Hickory, the 22-year-old has worked his into the upper tiers of the team's pitching prospects following the trades of top arms Dillon Tate and Luis Ortiz at the 2016 trade deadline. Payano has good command of his four-pitch repertoire, and his fastball sits in the low-90s. In his first two seasons at Low-A, the young righty posted a 1.10 ERA in 2015 and 2.80 ERA in 2016. In 73.2 innings this past season, Payano struck out nearly 27 percent of the batters he faced and had a walk rate of 9.5 percent. With two solid seasons under his belt in the low minors, it will be interesting to see if he can continue his strong performances as he climbs the ladder toward the big leagues.