A righthander who's probably outgrown his shot at the Ranger rotation, Hurley has developed steadily enough over the last few seasons, and now seems to slot into a mopup or inning-eating role in Texas.

He uses a hard, sinking fastball as well as the traditional two and four-seam varieties. Yes, this means his three best pitches are all fastballs. His slider and change, on the other hand, are average, workable pitches, but not yet polished enough to rely upon, and that's the reason he's still probably going to start his sixth consecutive season in the minors, though he could see midseason low-leverage duty in Texas in 2011, the same as he sampled in 2010. While he's no longer among the hottest pitching prospects in Texas, Hurley could still fight his way to a place at the back end of the Texas rotation someday.