2012 MLB Draft: Texas Picks RHP Collin Wiles At No. 53 Overall

With the 53rd overall pick in the 2012 Rule 4 amateur draft, the Texas Rangers have selected 6' 4", 187-pound right-hander Collin Wiles from Blue Valley West High School in Kansas.

Wiles was listed at No. 268 on Baseball America's list of the top 500 prospects in this draft class, so for everyone who justifiably anticipated an off-the-board pick, there you go. I imagine one of the driving forces behind this pick was signability, because if you can save money and go under slot on one of your higher picks, you can sink those cost savings into another talent -- possibly Gallo, who slipped out of the bottom half of the first round and deep into the supplemental round, and who quite possibly will require an over-slot bonus in order to sway him.

Scouting info on Wiles is understandably a tad scarce, but from what I can tell, he's your prototypical projectability guy, with good athleticism and arm action that, per Baseball America, enables him to command three pitches. He was also selected as the Gatorade Kansas Baseball Player of the Year within the last week, after posting a 0.10 ERA and 76 strikeouts in 49.1 innings during his senior season. Perfect Game USA identified Wiles as a late-rising prospect in the middle of last month, remarking upon his increase in fastball velocity but also indicating that he could prove difficult to pry away from his commitment to Vanderbilt.