Texas Rangers Top Prospects to Know 2025

You are reading the free version of the Texas Rangers Top Prospects. In this version, you will get the full writeups on the top prospect in the system, the biggest sleeper, and a player I could see breaking out in 2025.

In this edition, you will see what I offer in the full team reports. For every farm system, you will get my top 50 ranked players and detailed reports on the top 30. Each report includes advanced player data, traditional scouting thoughts from live and video looks, plus thoughts from scouts around the league.

Let’s dive in on what you get in the full report!

Glossary:

FFG = Future Fantasy Grade - essentially, what is the likely long-term outcome for the prospect? This is always going to be more conservative. Handing out ace tags is not something I like to do. So, this is a realistic outcome.

90th Peak = If the player hits their best-case outcome, what does it look like?

Variance = How risky is this player’s profile, and how likely are they to hit their likely outcome? Low variance is good; high means more risky.

Format for report: Name/Position/Age on 2025 Opening Day/Height/Weight/Highest Level

Texas Rangers Top Prospect

1. Sebastian Walcott, SS, 19, 6’4”/190, AA

If you crafted the body of a future star player in a lab, Walcott is what they would look like. Standing at 6’4”/190, Walcott won’t turn 19 until Spring Training 2025 is nearly over, yet he has already reached Double-A. The Rangers have been aggressive with him, sending him from the complex to High-A after he signed in January 2023, and then Walcott spent nearly all of 2024 with High-A Hickory before ending the year in Double-A.

After some struggles out of the gate, and to no one’s surprise, Walcott progressed all year and wound up slashing .265/.344/.452 with 11 home runs, 34 doubles, and nine triples. He stole 27 bases and was caught just eight times. While some reports have quickly written him off as a shortstop, Walcott shows impressive range there and has smooth actions with a big arm.

While the 25.6 percent strikeout rate is a bit concerning and the contact rates, don’t paint a pretty picture, things improved. Over his final three months, Walcott struck out less than 23 percent of the time. The contact rate finished the year at 67 percent and his in-zone mark was a below-average 78 percent. Walcott chased pitches out of the zone at a 27 percent clip. When examining these marks, it is important to remember that was an 18-year-old in High-A and Double-A.

The power and athleticism are off the charts, though. Walcott’s 90th percentile exit velocity of 106 mph was top of the scale for his age, and he paired it with an impressive 116.3 mph max. Nearly 60 percent of Walcott’s batted balls were in the air, and his pull percentage of balls in the air was 90th percentile for all hitters.

The foot speed is plus Walcott uses it on the bases and in the field. The swing is solid, and the bat speed is electric. He does wrap the bat around his head ever so slightly but creates good separation with a wide base, helping him generate torque and power.

From a pure upside standpoint, this is what a number one overall prospect looks like. Will Walcott make enough contact to make the profile work? That is still to be determined, but even if he is a 30-grade hit tool, the rest of the profile will allow him to be an everyday major leaguer.

FFG: Top 10 SS/3B

90th Percentile Peak Outcome: .270/.340/30 HR/20 SB

Variance: Very High

Buy/Sell: Buy

Texas Rangers Sleeper Prospect

5. Kohl Drake, LHP, 24, 6’5”/220, AA

Drake is one of the more underrated pitching prospects in baseball. A 2022 11th-round pick, Drake pitched very little in 2023 but took a big jump forward in 2024, moving three levels and finishing the year dominating Double-A hitters. He finished the year with a 2.29 ERA across 106 innings with 148 strikeouts to just 31 walks.

Age is probably a factor going against Drake’s stock not climbing higher, but I believe that with pitchers, stuff and command are evident, and you can see it playing no matter the competition. Drake is one of those arms.

Drake sits in the 93-95 mph range with his fastball, registering between 15 and 18 inches of IVB with a nice horizontal run. Drake’s curve is his second most used offering, sitting in the low-80s with -15 inches of IVB and sweeping action as well.

He mixes an 82 mph changeup that plays well off his fastball and a slider in the 85-87 mph range.

The former 11th-rounder in 2022 should fully be on radars at this point. As the season went on, Drake has continually improved. He finished the season with nearly a 17 percent swinging strike rate while throwing strikes at a 65 percent clip.

Internally, the Rangers are quite high on Drake. The hype still hasn’t built, but Drake is an arm that everyone needs to know. This is a solid, high-floor pitcher.

FFG: SP4-5

90th Percentile Peak Outcome: 150 IP/3.80 ERA/155 K

Variance: Medium

Buy/Sell: Buy

Texas Rangers 2025 Breakout Prospect

18. Paulino Santana, OF, 18, 6’2”/180, DSL

Santana has plenty of upside to dream of, with a highly projectable frame. Signing with the Rangers in January 2024 for $1.3 million, Santana received buzz as a player who had improved tremendously leading up to signing day. It was an interesting DSL debut for Santana, who showed minimal power, slashing .292/.464/.364 with ten extra-base hits, but zero home runs. He stole 20 bases and was caught five times.

Having a hit-first approach, Santana takes walks and makes plenty of contact with pitches in the zone. He posted a 15 percent chase rate and made contact on 82 percent of pitches he swung at. With plus clock times, Santana is a threat on the base paths but was also strong in the outfield.

Surprisingly, Santana ran a 90th percentile exit velocity under 100 mph, but again, he was 17 years old, so it is too soon to worry. He also has shown the ability to pick up spin quite well and can use the whole field well.

It may seem simple, but the fact that Santana is bilingual speaks highly of the kind of maturity he has as both a person and a player. We saw a lot of good in the profile in 2024, but there is more to come. Santana should add power and could evolve into a player who has five tools that are above average or better.

FFG: Well Rounded OF

90th Percentile Peak Outcome: .280/.380/20 HR/20 SB

Variance: Extreme

Buy/Sell: Buy