Austin Jackson grew up in DFW, was a multi-sport star at Denton Ryan High School and had his choice of playing professional baseball or big-time college basketball for Georgia Tech.
Jackson chose baseball as he was selected by the New York Yankees and went on to quickly become one of their top prospects before he was dealt to the Detroit Tigers and eventually made his big-league debut in 2010 with the Tigers as a 23-year-old athletic center fielder.
Since 2014, he's played for three different teams as the Tigers finally had seen enough, shipping him off to Seattle, who in turn sent him to the Chicago Cubs last season.
Now, he's free, and he's been a guy who's been tied to the hometown Rangers due to their overwhelming need for outfield depth. But what Jackson did recently might put a wrench in that idea.
Jackson reportedly passed on a one-year deal from the Rangers' AL West rival Angels for "$5-6 million," meaning one of two things: He either really hates the Angels like any good DFW native should or he thinks he can earn more elsewhere.
I'd tend to lean toward the latter, and that pretty much eliminates the Rangers from having a shot at him as they won't offer anything close to that for the struggling, but still-young outfielder.
Jackson could be waiting for a team to come along that can offer everyday at-bats to try to re-establish his lost value, and the Rangers could be a fit there with Josh Hamilton's knee woes, but it wouldn't be a guarantee.
