Jason Botts, OF, Rangers: Here's a throwback to the old days of Rob Deer, Pete Incaviglia and Gorman Thomas of the late 1980s/early 1990s, when all-or-nothing sluggers were quite the rage and even considered viable cleanup hitters for a major-league team. Botts is every bit that type with the bat, with tremendous power but the potential to become a strikeout machine. In short, he's an all-or-nothing kind of hitter, though he's more athletic than those three and at least he's in the right ballpark for that kind of player, the bandbox that is Ameriquest Field. Botts will get his chance to unseat Phil Nevin as the Rangers' everyday designated hitter, and regardless of the Deer/Incaviglia/Thomas comparisons, those kinds of players do have a use in today's major-league game. Big-time power can be particularly threatening to opposing pitchers, and in this kid's case, maybe he'll take some of them by surprise. Botts batted .293 with 35 homers in 173 games for Triple-A Oklahoma between 2005-06, but with a one strikeout-per-3.4 at-bat rate during that span, don't count on nearly as good a batting average in Texas. He has a long swing, meaning he could be anything from a Thomas type in his early years to an Adam Dunn 2003 type, assuming he gets the at-bats for either. Botts' raw power is well worth an AL-only pickup, but be prepared for him to adversely affect your batting average if he proves not ready yet.
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