Scouts who have seen Matt Bush have been blown away.

Who is Matt Bush? He was the first pick of the 2004 draft by the Padres, ahead of Justin Verlander by the Tigers and Philip Humber by the Mets (Humber retired this week). Bush was a shortstop. His career was a bust, his life off the field worse. He had a series of arrests that devolved fully in March 2012 when he hit a motorcyclist while driving drunk.

He served 39 months of a 51-month sentence. Roy Silver, a member of the Rangers minor league staff, had a relationship with Bush dating to the DUI. Silver has a history working with addicts, including Josh Hamilton. While in prison, Bush had a job in a local restaurant. Silver would visit occasionally, and advised Rangers brass that he believed Bush was viable, physically and mentally, for a comeback.

After he completed his jail sentence last fall, Bush — who in his previous minor league incarnation had transitioned from shortstop to pitcher — was brought to Arlington and impressed Texas executives with his velocity, but also with his willingness to talk openly about his past. The Rangers set “lifestyle” guidelines within a minor league contract.

Bush, now 30, has hit 100 mph in games. He is still working on refining a breaking pitch. His father, Danny, has been with him during a low-key spring and will be at Double-A Fresno, where the righty has been assigned.

So I wondered whether Bush could go in a few months from prison to a major league mound in 2016, and this is what Rangers general manager Jon Daniels responded in an email: “We think so.”