But a full appreciation of what Bell gave this franchise requires a look beneath the surface.  At the moment, third base may be the leanest position in the Rangers' minor league system, but among the organization's crop is a player who, like Bell, calls for a deeper look to understand what he might become.

When Bell arrived in Texas following the 1978 season, the franchise had had only two players in its seven years who went to as many as two All-Star Games, catcher Jim Sundberg and shortstop Toby Harrah, the player the Rangers traded to get Bell.  Bell had been to one All-Star Game himself, when at age 21 he went as a second-year big leaguer and tripled in a pinch-hitting appearance.  He didn't return to the Mid-Summer Classic in his remaining five seasons with Cleveland, but things changed when he got to Texas.

Bell wasn't an All-Star in 1979, but starting in 1980, he was selected four times in five years.  He did win a Gold Glove in 1979, and would win one in each of the following five seasons as well.  (Oddly enough, Bell not only won a Gold Glove every full season he played with Texas - he never won one in any of his other 12 big league seasons.)  A steady offensive player, Bell was a spectacular defender, with good hands, a strong arm, and a flair for the dramatic play.

With a personality as unassuming as his numbers, Bell was a fan favorite in Texas but might have had the quietest 2,500-hit career of any player to reach that threshold, having never played on a playoff team and, in fact, playing most of his 18 seasons for bad teams in relatively small markets.  His stature in the game was unassailable, though, as evidenced by his receipt in 1988 of the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, given annually to the player who best exemplifies Gehrig's character and integrity both on and off the field. 

The way I remember Bell, one of my favorite players as a kid, I would have sworn his numbers were a lot more impressive.  Yet he had only one season with 20 home runs, one season with 100 RBI, two seasons with a .300 average, and one season with 200 hits.  The numbers didn't tell nearly the whole story.

The Rangers have a third baseman on the farm right now who, in his fourth pro season, is still in Class A and has an unimposing career line of .251/.357/.403.  But a look beneath the surface hints that Johnny Whittleman could still emerge as the organization's best bet to eventually settle in as an everyday third baseman in the Major Leagues. 

The Rangers' second-round pick in 2005 out of Kingwood High School near Houston, Whittleman is a premier athlete with tremendous makeup and baseball instincts whose picturesque left-handed swing has yet to produce with the kind of consistency that he'll need in order to get to the big leagues.  But there are two things that Whittleman does very well - lay off bad pitches and rack up doubles - that promise better things ahead.

In 2007, despite a rough second half (he hit .343 over the season's first two months but just .214 the rest of the way), Whittleman had the eighth-highest walk total in the minor leagues, drawing a base on balls once for every 5.1 Clinton and Bakersfield at-bats.  Midwest League managers ranked his strike zone judgment as the best in the league.  In 2008, he has walked once every 5.4 Bakersfield at-bats, and he is one walk short of the California League lead.  It's surely been frustrating for Whittleman that he hasn't hit for a better average and more power so far as a pro, but if so he hasn't let it affect his patience at the plate.  He understands the strike zone and sees a ton of pitches, which bodes well for his development as a producer at the plate. 

It's been said that minor league doubles often turn into big league home runs, and Whittleman has hit for doubles with increasing frequency every year since being drafted.  In 2006, his first full pro season, he doubled once every 22.2 at-bats.  In 2007, he doubled once every 12.9 at-bats.  This year, he has doubled once every 12 at-bats and has the third-highest total in the California League.  

Whittleman has hit only six home runs thus far in 2008, going deep only half as often as he did last year, but there's no doubt that the power is there.  He homered 17 times in 2007 and added a bomb in last summer's Futures Game off of blue-chip prospect Deolis Guerra, ranked by scouts as the number two pitching prospect in the game and since shipped by the Mets to the Twins as a key to the Johan Santana trade.  

In each of Whittleman's four seasons in the Rangers system, he has seen his numbers drop off late in the year.  Finding a way to sustain his offense will be critical to his chances to play at the highest level.  Given Whittleman's work ethic, the odds are good that he'll get it figured out.

Prospects aren't granted major league careers because of their character and their leadership, but those things certainly help them get to the big leagues, and stay there.  Buddy Bell's place in Rangers history was as much about how he played the game as it was about the numbers he put up in his eight seasons with the franchise.  

Johnny Whittleman's numbers need to improve, without question, but there are statistical indications that he might break out before long.  And his intangibles are the type that, like Bell, he could develop into a player who gives his team and the people who fill the stands far more than runs batted in and the arm strength to routinely start a 5-4-3.

Jamey Newberg is a contributor to MLB.com.  A Dallas lawyer, he has been an insane Texas Rangers fan since the days of scheduled doubleheaders, Bat Nights when they actually handed out a piece of lumber instead of a grocery store voucher, and Jim Umbarger.  He has covered the Texas Rangers, from the big club down through the entire farm system, since 1998 on his website, NewbergReport.com.  This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Earlier today, Davis was also named by Major League Baseball as a member of the U.S. Team for the XM All-Star Futures Game, which will be played at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, July 13. 

Taylor Teagarden will also play for the U.S. Team, while Max Ramirez and Elvis Andrus were tabbed to play for the World Team.

When the trade was made, most observers identified Jarrod Saltalamacchia as the key to the deal for Texas.  Over the winter, Baseball America tabbed Elvis Andrus as the top prospect in the Rangers' deep farm system.  Matt Harrison threw a Class AA no-hitter in mid-May, was promoted to Class AAA three weeks later, and at age 22 could be in the big leagues before the season is over.  Baseball Prospectus called Neftali Feliz the Rangers' top prospect before spring training, and a bunch of others are coming to the same conclusion now.

Lefthander Beau Jones will have come out of nowhere, relatively speaking, if he emerges at some point as the best player Texas acquired in the deal.  But he's no more of a longshot than Mitch Williams was in the mid-'80s.

Williams had just turned 20 when Texas used a 1984 Rule 5 pick on the wiry southpaw, who in three Class A seasons with the Padres had walked nearly eight hitters per nine innings as a starting pitcher.  Rule 5 requires a drafting team to keep the player in the big leagues, or else it has to run the player through waivers and offer him back to his original team for half the $50,000 draft fee.  

The story is that Williams had so little control of his plus stuff in spring training in 1985 that the Rangers' left-handed hitters refused to take batting practice against him.  In seven innings of exhibition work, he surrendered 10 earned runs.  Texas couldn't bring itself to take Williams to Arlington, got him through waivers unclaimed, and offered him back to San Diego at the end of camp. 

The Rangers got creative, however, and proposed a new idea to the Padres: Take Williams back, like Rule 5 permits, and then trade him to us for Randy Asadoor, a 22-year-old third baseman coming off of a 24-homer season at Class A.  Asadoor could settle in as San Diego's heir apparent to Graig Nettles (in which case Texas would convert AAA second baseman Steve Buechele to third base, making him Buddy Bell's eventual successor).  San Diego agreed.

Because the trade was made after the Rule 5 constraints had been satisfied, Texas was able to assign Williams to the minor leagues.  Working as a starter for Class A Salem, he led the Carolina League with 117 walks even though he spent only four months in the league before a promotion to Class AA Tulsa.  He proceeded to issue 48 walks in 33 Drillers frames.  Between his two 1985 stops, Williams gave up only 74 hits in 132 innings, but when a pitcher walks an incredible 165 along the way, it's easy to be skeptical about his odds of reaching the big league.

Yet somehow, that same the 20-year-old who averaged more than 11 walks per nine minor league innings - as a starter - transformed instantly under the tutelage of pitching coach Tom House into a 21-year-old who would lead the American League in appearances (a Major League rookie record 80 games) and win eight games, save another eight, and hold the league to a .202 batting average.  Setting up closer Greg Harris as a rookie, Williams racked up 90 strikeouts, more than any other left-handed reliever in baseball.  His walk rate with the Rangers was nearly half of what it had been in Salem and Tulsa the year before, and his 3.58 ERA was lower - by more than a full run - than it had been in any of his four minor league seasons.

Williams was even better in 1987.  With Dale Mohorcic settling into the ninth-inning role, Williams posted a 3.23 ERA, held the American League to a .175 average, and struck out 129 hitters in 108.2 innings.  He won eight games, saved six, and was promoted to closer for the 1988 season.  Though his ERA rose to 4.63 and he converted only 18 of 26 save opportunities, his electric arm keyed the Rangers' December deal with Cubs for Rafael Palmeiro, Jamie Moyer, and Drew Hall.  He spent the next five years closing games for Chicago and Philadelphia.

Atlanta drafted Beau Jones in the supplemental first round in 2005 out of a Louisiana high school and persuaded him to forgo a scholarship to Louisiana State University.  Featuring a low-90s fastball that touched 95 and a sharp-breaking curve that had out-pitch potential, he was a kid that the Braves envisioned as yet another in a long line of southpaw starters who would march into Atlanta and flourish.  

But after a solid debut summer, Jones had command issues in 2006, his first full pro season, working as a starter for Class A Rome.  Though he struck out 101 hitters in 110.2 innings, he issued an unacceptable 83 walks, and Atlanta returned him to Rome in 2007, only this time as a reliever.  

The transformation was Mitch Williams-esque.  In 48.2 innings, introducing a vastly improved changeup to his mix, Jones registered 46 strikeouts and issued only 12 walks.  Just one of the 38 hits he allowed for Rome left the park.  In the middle of Jones's 21 appearances, the Braves challenged the 20-year-old with a brief stint in High-A Myrtle Beach, where he struggled in one start and four relief appearances (13 earned runs on 10 hits and 14 walks in 7.2 innings) before resuming his dominance in the Rome bullpen.

When Texas and Atlanta zeroed in on the Teixeira trade last July, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels insisted that the Braves tack Jones onto the deal at the last minute when it was discovered that Harrison was suffering from turf toe.  Atlanta agreed, and Texas decided to keep Jones in Low Class A but to give him another look as a starter.  The results were exciting.  Jones went 4-1, 2.70 for Clinton in six starts and one relief appearance, issuing 12 walks and fanning 29 in 26.2 innings.  

However, following the season, Jones was held out of Fall Instructional League and had surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow.  He was nonetheless ready to go when the 2008 season got underway, and Texas assigned him to High Class A Bakersfield.  What followed was fascinating.

In four Blaze starts, Jones went 1-3, 5.30, giving up 22 hits and nine walks in 18.2 innings.  The organization then shut him down for six weeks with what was reported as biceps tendinitis, and upon his return three weeks ago, he was asked to move to the bullpen.  In his five relief appearances, Jones has an ERA of 0.77.  He has scattered seven hits and just two walks in 11.2 innings.  His strikeout rate and groundball rate are slightly better than they were as a Blaze starter.  Right-handed and left-handed hitters have been equally inept against him.

And then there's this: Even though Jones struggled in his four Bakersfield starts in April, he was brilliant at the beginning of the game, giving up one hit and one walk in his four first innings, fanning two.  Could it be indicative of a pitcher best suited to pitch in late relief, a guy who is at his best right out of the gate, during his first run at an opposing lineup?  

It's not often that you peg a power arm, especially one belonging to a lefthander, as a future reliever.  The Padres and Rangers didn't do it with Williams, and the Braves and Rangers haven't done it with Jones.  But when Williams was converted for good to a bullpen role, he went from a minor league curiosity to a big league All-Star.  Perhaps a set-up role is where Jones is most suited to produce. 

Jamey Newberg is a contributor to MLB.com.  A Dallas lawyer, he has been an insane Texas Rangers fan since the days of scheduled doubleheaders, Bat Nights when they actually handed out a piece of lumber instead of a grocery store voucher, and Jim Umbarger.  He has covered the Texas Rangers, from the big club down through the entire farm system, since 1998 on his website, NewbergReport.com.  This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.