Former Texas Rangers Pick Now a Projected First-Round Talent

With the college baseball season right around the corner, it's time for publications to begin ranking their top players for the 2025 MLB Draft, which is exactly what Baseball America did in releasing their top-200 MLB draft prospects list.

One thing that is key to remember about the MLB draft is that a list like this one is based off of talent, and isn't necessarily a mock draft. Due to each team having their own set of draft money that they have to spread across 20 picks, sometimes a more talented player will slip on draft day due to sign-ability concerns.

So with that, let's talk about a player that has actually already been drafted by the Texas Rangers, but instead decided to attend Stanford.

Matt Scott, a 6-foot-7, 247 pound right hander with three plus pitches is currently ranked as the No. 24 draft prospect. When the Rangers selected him in 2022, it was in the 20th round as a bit of a flier pick. He declined their offer at the time, and is now looking like a first-round talent.

This isn't uncommon in the draft, with clubs attempting to snag a talented player in the late rounds and being unable to sign them. Typically what will happen is that they'll turn into a pick in the first few rounds just a couple of years later.

"Scott has a durable, workhorse frame," Baseball America writes "with a thick lower half and serious physicality. He keeps his delivery under control and repeats it well. His fastball has been up to 98 mph with elite riding life, but he often pitches down in the zone where the heater doesn’t play as well and gets hit around."

Scott's results haven't matched the tools just yet. In two seasons with the Cardinal, he has made a total of 40 appearances (27 starts) and holds a 5.57 ERA with a 1.395 WHIP. Scott has also struck out 165 batters in 147 innings in those two seasons, but his strikeout rate surged to 11.6 per nine in 2024 after sitting at 8.3 in his freshman campaign.

Scott finished 2024 tied with Clark Candiotti of Arizona in strikeouts last season at No. 41, and his 11.59 strikeouts per nine ranked No. 37 in all of college baseball. The majority of the players above him on that leaderboard were juniors and have since been selected by MLB teams. Candiotti was selected by the San Diego Padres in the fourth round of last year's draft.

More from Baseball America, "Scott’s stuff is better than his performance and big league clubs are hopeful that sharpened command or a tweaked approach could unlock more at the next level."

The team with the number 24 selection in this year's draft is the Detroit Tigers, though, as we mentioned previously, draft order isn't as significant for where a player will end up. That being said, he's either looking at being selected by one of the better teams around baseball at the back-end of the first round, or in the compensation and competitive balance round, which should provide him a nice system to land in.

Then again, he could always improve his draft stock in the coming season.

Stanford baseball's season begins on Valentine's Day, February 14, on the road against Fullerton. Each of the four games in this series will be on ESPN+. The first home game for the Cardinal will be a week later on Friday, February 21 when they welcome in Washington for a 2:05 p.m. (PT) start time.