Profar Could Be On His Way

If you thought Mike Olt was a big prospect, and a big splash when he was called up to the Texas Rangers a couple of weeks ago, you were right. Olt saw instant success with a hit in his first big-league at-bat off C.J. Wilson and has had several RBIs so far, including a big walk-off single on Saturday night en route to a series win over the Detroit Tigers.

But there is no bigger prospect in the Rangers system, and few in all of baseball, than shortstop Jurickson Profar, and the 19-year-old could be joining his former teammate at Double-A Frisco on the big club sooner rather than later.

The general consensus has long been that Profar would be ready to play in the big leagues in 2013, but he might get a head start soon, and he's almost a certainty to be called up on Sept. 1 when rosters expand for the postseason run.

Profar, who has also dabbled some at second base, is batting .283 with 13 homers, 25 doubles and 60 RBIs in 110 games for the Rough Riders. He has 15 stolen bases in 19 attempts and has scored 69 runs. His OPS is .825, more than twice that of veteran Michael Young, who is currently the backup infielder after the Rangers optioned Alberto Gonzalez to Triple-A Round Rock when they called Mark Lowe up after his rehab assignment.

On ESPN 103.3.'s Galloway & Co., Rangers owner/president Nolan Ryan said the club hasn't made a final decision on Profar's fate this season, but it is sounding more and more like he'll be called up at some point soon, especially with Gonzalez being sent down.

"There has been some discussion about that," Ryan told the radio station. "Will he be a September call up, will he be prior to that? I couldn't say, but do I think at some point in time he'll be here this year? I would say there's a reasonable chance of that happening."

With Olt and Profar being fast-tracked to the bigs, you'd think the Rangers are a team mailing it and trying to get youngsters some work on the big-league level, but instead they're looking to be signifcant contributors on a World Series contender and a two-time defending pennant winner.

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