Top Texas Rangers Prospects: MLB Power Rankings

No. 10 Rangers Prospect - Jose Corniell, RHP

Age 21, 6-foot-3/165 pounds, High-A

Originally signing with the Mariners for $630k in 2019, Corniell was traded to the Rangers in 2020 for Rafael Montero. Improving and building his innings every season, Corniell broke out in a big way in 2023, posting a 2.92 ERA across 101 2/3 innings pitched, with the majority of his starts coming in High-A.

Across those innings, he struck out 119 batters and walked just 31 while posting a strike rate north of 67 percent. He missed the entire 2024 season due to Tommy John.

His fastball plays well at the top of the strike zone, sitting 94-95 mph with carry and arm-side run. It plays up even further thanks to a big extension, much like other Rangers’ arms.

His sweeper sits in the mid-80s with over 13-15 inches of sweeping action regularly. The pitch is plus, and Corniell is comfortable throwing it to both lefties and righties. The high-spinning curveball gets a ton of whiffs, showing an impressive two-plane break.

Corniell added a two-seamer and a cutter in 2023, working it down in the zone and getting groundballs, and will mix a changeup in as well against lefties, having a late break. The cutter gave him another pitch he was confident in, and it largely played a big part in his 2023 breakout.

It will be interesting to see what Corniell looks like coming back from Tommy John in 2025. The progress in 2023 was huge, and if the strike-throwing and stuff come back, Corniell probably flies up the Rangers’ top prospect list.

No. 9 Rangers Prospect - Jack Leiter, RHP

Age 24, 6-foot-1/205 pounds, Major League Baseball

Some have been quick to call Leiter a Quad-A pitcher after a small MLB sample. This is typically what happens when a prospect comes up and does not perform right away. Leiter was as hyped as any prospect when he came out of Vanderbilt in 2021 and was selected second overall.

The results have been up and down throughout his career, but after landing on the dev list in 2023, Leiter has looked like a different arm.

Across 77 Triple-A innings in 2024, Leiter posted a 3.51 ERA with a 33.3 percent strikeout rate. The 35 2/3 MLB innings led to poor results, but Leiter’s second stint with the Rangers in September was much better outside of one blow up start.

Leiter’s fastball gets exceptional ride, averaging 18 inches of IVB from a 5-foot-7 release height while sitting 96-97 mph. The nearly seven feet of extension allows the pitch to play up even more, and when Leiter is locating it well, it plays better than a plus offering.

The 86-87 mph slider is close to a gyro shape but often plays closer to a traditional slider shape. It is highly effective and plays well with his fastball. Leiter uses a 90 mph cutter to bridge between the four-seam and slider but misses bats at high rates for a cutter.

Leiter then drops in an 81 mph curveball with good depth and short horizontal movement, and he rounds out the arsenal with a heavy-fading changeup that sits at 89 mph.

The positive in the profile is that Leiter has shown improved control. The strike-throwing was around average, but the command and location of his pitches will need to improve. Leiter still has the stuff to be a viable starting pitcher in the majors.

No. 8 Rangers Prospect - Malcolm Moore, C

Age 21, 6-foot-2/215 pounds, High-A

Moore was a first-round talent coming out of high school in 2022 but elected to head to Stanford, where he is now a draft-eligible sophomore who bet on himself and made plenty of money, it seems.

He was a freshman All-American in 2023 and even though the numbers don’t jump off the page at you in 2024, he had a very good year. In 244 plate appearances, Moore hit 16 home runs while slashing .255/.414/.553 with more walks than strikeouts. He struck out just 14 percent of the time while walking at an 18 percent clip.

I would not worry too much about the batting average. Moore made excellent contact and had good quality contact, too. His overall contact rate of 83 percent is very solid, and his in-zone mark of 92 percent is high-end. Moore does not chase often out of the zone either, with just a 22 percent rate.

The power metrics won’t wow you, but he still posted an above-average 89 mph average exit velocity and 104 mph 90th percentile. He topped out at 116 mph, which is stellar and shows some big-time power potential.

The power translated to pro ball with a wood bat as Moore showed respectable exit velocities in a small sample. Moore is the kind of profile that makes the most of his power by lifting and pulling the ball regularly. His line drive + fly ball pull rate was among the top marks in college baseball.

Moore needs lots of work to stick behind the plate, so that is still a question mark in his profile, but he hits and is one of the more complete hitters in the class.

No. 7 Rangers Prospect - Winston Santos, RHP

Age 22, 6-foot/160 pounds, Double-A

After signing with the Rangers in July of 2019, Santos' pro debut was set back until 2021 due to the pandemic. It was a slow burn for Santos, who was rather good in Single-A in 2022 but took a big step back in 2023 in High-A.

The 2024 season was a massive breakout, though, as Santos threw 110 1/3 innings between High-A and Double-A, having a 3.67 ERA with 138 strikeouts to 34 walks.

Santos’s fastball velocity improved throughout the 2024 season. Early in the season, he sat 94-96, but for the year, he averaged between 96 and 97 with impressive IVB from a 5-foot-7 release height. The 17 inches of IVB is paired with good horizontal movement, helping create strong whiff rates.

The biggest flaw I saw in my looks was when he missed middle or down in the zone; it was hit hard. Up in the zone, the fastball plays well.

The slider began to play exceptionally well as he completely changed from throwing a sweeper in the low 80s to a gyro slider that averaged 85 mph. He located it well, and it played well off his fastball. There is a changeup in the profile, but it is currently inconsistent, sitting 86-88 mph.

Santos showed the ability to throw strikes at a high clip last year, landing 67 percent of pitches for strikes. The swinging-strike rate of 16 percent stood out as well. The improved slider played a huge part in this development, and the changeup needs to take a step forward in 2025.

Santos could be a backend starter, but worst case could be a really solid bullpen arm.

No. 5 Rangers Prospect - Kohl Drake, LHP

Age 24, 6-foot-5/220 pounds, Double-A

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.

No. 4 Rangers Prospect - Emiliano Teodo, RHP

Age 24, 6-foot-1/165 pounds, Double-A

Of all the pitchers I saw in the last few years, Teodo might have the most electric stuff. Despite pitching solely out of the bullpen in the Arizona Fall League in 2023, Teodo returned to a starter role in 2024, throwing 86 1/3 innings with a 1.98 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP, and a 31 percent strikeout rate.

While Teodo did walk 14 percent of batters with a 60 percent strike rate, the stuff overpowers hitters.

Teodo has an explosive fastball that I clocked as high as 101 mph this year and regularly sits near triple digits. The sinker has a ton of bore to it, making it incredibly hard to hit, paired with the velocity. Teodo began to use the sinker more in 202,4 which plays well for him.

Teodo also mixes a changeup that has been up to 94 but can dial it back to the high 80s. The mid-to-upper 80s slider gets excellent sweeping action and gets on hitters quickly. The slider has strong traits, having good depth and late sweeping action. He sells it extremely well with his high arm speed.

The stuff is insane, and you would love to see him get a chance to be a starter, but if the command falters, Teodo could be a fun closer.

No. 3 Rangers Prospect - Alejandro Rosario, RHP

Age 23, 6-foot-1/182 pounds, High-A

Rosario pitched exceptionally well all year, including in my live looks at him. A 2023 fifth-round pick, Rosario’s numbers at Miami University were not good. But the Rangers saw the vision with a change in pitch mix, which led to all the success for Rosario in his pro debut season.

Rosario threw 88 1/3 innings with a 2.24 ERA with 129 strikeouts and 13 walks.

Rosario’s fastball sits in the 95 to 98 range and sometimes touches 99. It comes with a heavy arm side run and a low 5-foot-5 release height. Rosario creates an absurd amount of IVB with 17 inches on average from that low release height. The fastball is an outlier pitch with strong velocity.

His splitter plays as a plus pitch, sitting near 90 mph and missing a ton of bats. The pitch averaged over 15 inches of horizontal movement with late parachuting action. Rosario throws it away from lefties but also in on right-handed batters, and it missed bats at an absurd clip.

Rosario then gets hitters with a mid-80s slider that has a slurvey shape. Rosario sells all three pitches well thanks to his consistent arm speed and has shown good bat-missing ability with each. There are times when Rosario really snaps it off and gets a ton of horizontal movement. He also does a great job of landing it for strikes.

You could argue three-plus pitches at this point with stellar command. Rosario walked 3.7 percent of hitters with an impressive 69 percent strike rate. Considering the cross-body delivery, his pinpoint location is impressive.

He looks like a mid-rotation starter at this point, with room to continue to grow. Rosario unfortunately will not pitch in 2025 due to having Tommy John Surgery.

No. 2 Rangers Prospect - Kumar Rocker, RHP

Age 25, 6-foot-5/245 pounds, Major League Baseball

It has been a wild career arc to get to where Rocker is presently, but the present version of Rocker looks like one of the better pitchers in baseball. A first-round talent out of high school, Rocker opted to attend Vanderbilt, where he formed the top one-two punch in college baseball with Jack Leiter.

After being selected by the Mets 10th overall in 2021, New York decided not to sign him due to medical reasons. Rocker spent the 2022 season pitching in Indy ball, where he pitched well enough for the Rangers to select him third overall in 2022.

Rocker made six starts in 2023 before going down with Tommy John surgery. He returned from injury and looked like a completely different arm in his post-TJ era. In 29 2/3 innings in Double-A and Triple-A, Rocker posted a 0.91 ERA with 47 strikeouts and four walks. This earned Rocker a trip to the majors, where he pitched 11 2/3 strong innings.

Rocker is an example of how fast pitching prospects can change their trajectory. It only takes watching a couple of starts and having that data sample to see a player is different. If you remember the 2022 Arizona Fall League, you can remember how out of whack Rocker’s mechanics had gotten. The expectations were low, and Rocker came back and dominated.

The command is stellar. The stuff looks as good as ever. Rocker looks like the best version of himself right now.

Rocker is consistently sitting 96-98 mph with his fastball and touching triple digits. From his lower release point, he is throwing a pitch resembling a two-seam fastball, regularly showing 15-17 inches of arm-side movement. Seven feet of extension allow the pitch to play up even beyond that velocity.

His slider has nice depth in a gyro shape and reaches 90 mph. It gets insane amounts of whiffs, and hitters often look silly against it. Rocker is mixing a changeup but does not need to throw it that often. It will be interesting to watch how much he uses it in 2025, as he averages nearly 90 mph with the pitch and 15 inches of arm-side fade.

The crazy thing is Rocker posted a 71 percent strike rate last year. For reference, that is higher than Zebby Matthews, an elite control artist. His swinging-strike rate is a minor league-best 24.4 percent over the span he pitched. The CSW, an insane 39 percent.

Rocker’s injury history and struggles with mechanics seem to be behind him now. His 2024 dominance gives a lot of confidence heading into 2025 that he can be a staple in the Rangers rotation.

No. 1 Rangers Prospect - Sebastian Walcott, SS

Age 19, 6-foot-4/190 pounds, Double-A

If you crafted the body of a future star player in a lab, Walcott is what they would look like. Standing at 6-foot-4/190 pounds, 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 he 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. 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.