Mariners AL West rivals preview: Rangers Pt. 3 - Prospects

You wanted Stars and Scrubs? You get Stars and Scrubs.

Prospects

A year ago, the Rangers entered the season in extraordinary shape. They’d just won the World Series, and were viewed as having a farm system in the top half of the league at worst, if not among the sport’s best. A year, some graduations, and a few setbacks have backslid this group, but they’re still the most impressive opposition to the M’s in terms of future talent presently on hand.

Organizational System Rankings

Baseball America: 19th
Baseball Prospectus: 19th
MLB Pipeline: 19th

In a Jake Burger’s batting average-esque display of consistency, the public prospect rankings are aligned on where Texas stands. This comes on the heels of graduations by two players who were at or near the top of several lists, of course, in OFs Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter, the former of whom was already an impact player a year ago and the latter whose health is a cloud of uncertainty over what is still compelling talent. Also narrowly eclipsing the eligibility line is RHP Jack Leiter, who in his age 25 season is fundamentally still a prospect and may in fact start 2025 in the club’s rotation. Beyond those two and the prospects themselves, this is an older roster and organization, not having seen the breakouts or health they’d hoped for from relatively recent graduators like 3B Josh Jung and INF Ezequiel Duran.

Top-100 Prospects by Major Public Lists

As you can see, there’s plenty of daylight in the evaluations of these future Lone Star Cops. Most imminently, M’s fans will see RHP Kumar Rocker in the rotation, and he could face off against the M’s in their first series in April depending on how things shake out. Seattle saw Rocker a year ago and got a first-hand taste of how resoundingly the righty has recovered from his surgery and slow start to once again demonstrate the top end starter capabilities that made him a top 10 pick in the draft. Health and track record aren’t yet immense, but he’s the best bet for an arm in the AL West who is still prospect-eligible to be an ace. On his heels appeared to be Rosario, who was utterly dominant after turning pro, with the 5th round pick scorching up through High-A Hickory a year ago. In February, however, Rosario was dinged with an elbow injury that requires surgery and will have him missing all of 2025, which is likely reflected in the later-released MLB Pipeline Top-100’s non-inclusion.

Then there’s SS Sebastian Walcott. I’d love to tell you otherwise, but from an evaluative perspective I adore this young man. There is a Manny Machado-esque fluidity to Walcott’s game. I see this particularly at the plate, where his swing sweeps through the zone, staying in the zone for a lengthy stretch and allowing him to get good contact on pitches he’s slightly off-time for. As an 18 year old in Double-A Frisco by the end of 2024, Walcott looked like he belonged both in Hickory and with the RoughRiders. His arm is exceptional, so the 6’4 teenager could rock it at third base easily should he grow out of shortstop, where his plus speed helps him range well. His swing and miss can inflate, and he’s got a pronounced enough pull-tendency to expose himself still to off-speed. But again, he’ll be 19 this year starting in Double-A. That’s the part to worry on.

Name to Know for 2025: RHP Emiliano Teodo

Just optioned to the minors, where he’ll likely join Triple-A Round Rock, Teodo is likely to be back soon. The fireballing righty pitched potently enough for Cole Young and Harry Ford to be able to tell you plenty on him, namely that he’s got one of the best fastball-slider combos in the minors.

And... that’s kind of it. Teodo’s command is a bit haphazard, but with as much run as his upper-90s heaters get, along with devastating downward break on his slider, Teodo’s able to jumble and humble most hitters. That’s ultimately a profile that probably fits the bullpen best, but Texas isn’t pulling the rip cord on him just yet. They will, however, be giving another prospect-eligible arm a look at closing opportunities, as RHP Marc Church got that acclaim from manager Bruce Bochy. He too is a flamethrower in the upper 90s, though he’s similarly struggled with minimizing free passes.

The Rangers are in the core of their competitive window right now. They’re decently situated, with stars still shining in their veteran core, and a handful of young players in theory arrived or in range of making an impact. The organization’s willingness to embrace risk, however, is immense, in a near opposite approach to that of Seattle, and therefore they are vastly more likely to vacillate in performance and expectation. Tomorrow, we’ll conclude with a look at what we might expect from them in 2025.