You’d be hard-pressed to find an organization more efficient and successful in acquiring and developing amateur talent over the last half-decade than the Texas Rangers. The farm system continues to blossom and show promise even after the graduation of high-profile bats in 2023 and 2024.
A disappointing 2024 following a championship 2023 campaign has left a sour taste in the organization’s mouth. But 2025 figures to be another fruitful venture with impactful reinforcements ready to take aim at roles on the big league roster.
DEVELOPMENTS
What didn’t go well for the Texas Rangers farm system in 2024? Kumar Rocker got past years of injury woes and finally developed into the rotation horse that scouts saw all the way back in 2018. His 2021, 2022, and 2023 campaigns left the industry wondering if he was cooked. Quite the contrary. Rocker appears poised to be a front-runner for Rookie of the Year in 2025. Fellow Vandy Boy™ righty Jack Leiter also made his MLB debut in 2024 and while it wasn’t what he was hoping it might be, his Triple-A production does point toward a useful arm in some capacity within the Rangers stable going forward.
It wasn’t just Rocker and Leiter, though. Armed with an adjusted delivery and a newfangled approach to pitching at the top of the strike zone, 2023 fifth-round pick Alejandro Rosario is finally letting his elite arm talent shine. His triple-digit heater, tumbling splitter, and bullet slider are all flashing above-average upside.
He’s in line to debut in 2025 as well. Right-hander Emiliano Teodo was the star of the Futures Game during All-Star Weekend in July. He pitched to a 1.98 ERA this season at Double-A Frisco. He punched 110 tickets in just 86.1 innings and has the look of a future high-leverage reliever when it’s all said and done.
While most of the positive developments have come on the mound, Bahamian shortstop Sebastian Walcott continued his decimation of the low minors. Still just 18 years old, Walcott slashed .265/.335/.471 across High-A and Double-A, slugging 11 homers along the way.
He’s got a shot at debuting as a teenager in 2025, though finding a spot on the diamond may immediately be difficult save a significant injury to an organizational pillar.
Elsewhere, the debuts of OF Paulino Santana and SS Yolfran Castillo couldn’t have gone much smoother. Both players OPS’d north of .825 and walked more than they struck out in Rookie ball.
QUESTIONS
Despite multiple positive develops with the club’s top arms, the Rangers haven’t developed a quality starting pitcher — unless you want to partially credit them for Cole Ragans, who was traded to the Kansas City Royals in 2023 for Aroldis Chapman — since Derek Holland and Martin Perez more than 10 years ago.
The current regime has a chance with Leiter and Rocker, and eventually Rosario, Emiliano Teodo, and Winston Santos in the next two seasons. But we haven’t seen them do it, and they’re going to need a few to break through so they don’t have to continue throwing money at older players and spending young talent in trades to fill holes.
Leiter’s future role seems to be more in question than Rocker’s, and catcher prospect Malcolm Moore needs work if he’s going to stick.
Infielder Cameron Cauley looks the part of a speed and defense utility infielder with huge speed and a chance to get to 14-18 homers thanks to legitimate MLB-level bat speed. But do they have room for him to play much with Seager, Josh Jung, Josh Smith, and Marcus Semien on board?
ADDITIONS & SUBTRACTIONS
Other than pushing around the fringes of their roster, it was a calm early spring for the club’s system. Then in May, RHP Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa was shipped to the Chicago White Sox for OF Robbie Grossman, and the movement began, and in both directions.
Texas acquired LHP Andrew Chafin from the Detroit Tigers for RHPs Joseph Montalvo and Chase Lee, sent RHP Michael Lorenzen to the Royals for LHP Wlter Pennington, and added C Carson Kelly in a second trade with Detroit in exchange for C Liam Hicks and RHP Tyler Owens.
Moore was the club’s first-round pick in July, followed by OFs Dylan Dreiling and Casey Cook, RHP David Hagaman and infielder Devin Fitz-Gerald.
Moore and Dreiling are legitimate prospects with varying timelines, but both bring solid hit tools to pro ball.
GRADUATIONS
Evan Carter, OF
Wyatt Langford, OF
Jacob Latz, LHP
Grant Anderson, RHP
Carter struggled in 2024 after a strong audition late in 2023, including the postseason, but remains part of the future.
Langford raced through the minors after being the club’s top pick (No. 3 overall) and had a fine rookie season (110 wRC+, 16 HR) and is primed to build on that for 2025.
Latz is a fringe roster arm with control problems but has a real shot at two big-league secondaries to go with mid-90s heat.
Anderson filled a middle innings role untilan injury disrupted his season, but it’s fringe-average velocity and below-average command leading to a long-ball problem.
BIG-LEAGUE RADAR (yet to debut)
Walcott, SS
Rosario, RHP
Santos, RHP
Alejandro Osuna, OF
Mitch Bratt, LHP
Kohl Drake, LHP
Josh Stephan, RHP
Dane Acker, RHP
Skylar Hales, RHP
SCOUT SAYS
“This has been a blend of everything. They’ve developed through their minors, acquired veterans to fill immediate needs, and spent a lot of money to add big names to their roster for the long haul. Everyone talks about (Corey) Seager, (Marcus) Semien, and the Max Scherzer trade, but they set themselves up for more than one run (2023) with their development. (Nathaniel) Lowe, (Joneh) Heim, and they flipped the switch on Adolis Garcia. (Josh) Jung, Evan Carter, (Wyatt) Langford are trending up. Their window isn’t closed, it just might be on hold a year or two while they rebuild the pitching…”
“There should be more talk about Walcott. He’s not sticking (at SS), but he’ll convince you real fast he’s going to hit. Real fast. I saw (Jack) Leiter and Kumar (Rocker) a bunch this year and I’m split on those two; Rocker has a much better chance to start. I think both stick in the bigs in some role starting now, but it’s tough to write either up as more than risk-loaded arms.
“I expect the Rangers to continue to use their farm to acquire proven major leaguers to get every last drop of opportunity from their big free agent signings, and the league wants to get their hands on their minor league hitters.”
