Texas Rangers Outfielders Back-to-Back in Top 100 Prospect Rankings
The Texas Rangers landed two prospects in the Top 10 of MLB Pipeline’s latest Top 100 prospect rankings.
Naturally, those prospects were the Rangers’ highly-touted outfielders, Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford. They were back-to-back in the rankings, with Carter at No. 5 and Langford at No. 6.
Those weren’t big moves for the two players. Carter was No. 8 before the re-ranks and Langford was No. 13.
Two other Rangers prospects were in the Top 100 and were holdovers from the previous Top 100. Shortstop Sebastian Walcott dropped from No. 62 to No. 71, while pitcher Brock Porter nudged up from No. 91 to No. 88.
Carter played most of last season in the minors but was called up in September for the Rangers’ run to the World Series. He remains on the prospect list for now because he hasn’t accumulated enough service time to graduate.
Last year's first-round pick Wyatt Langford is already in the top 10 in the latest MLB Pipeline prospect rankings.
Ashley Salinas|Hickory Crawdads.
In 23 regular-season games, he batted .306 with five home runs and 12 RBI. He is expected to be the starter in left field this season.
Langford was the Rangers’ first-round pick last July and he ascended quickly through the farm system all the way to Triple-A Round Rock. Langford slashed .360/.480/.677/1.157 with 10 home runs and 30 RBI. He could make the Rangers’ 26-man roster coming out of spring training.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said on Friday that he’s keeping an “open mind” on what to do with Langford.
Walcott was the Rangers’ top international signee last January and he made a quick impression, as he started in the Dominican Summer League and finished at High-A Hickory. He batted .246/.335/.471/.806 with seven home runs and 24 RBI.
Porter was the Rangers’ fourth-round pick in 2022 out of West Bloomfield, Mich. He pitched his first professional season with Class-A Down East, where he went 0-3 but had a 2.47 ERA in 21 starts, as he struck out 95 batters in 69 1/3 innings.
Rankings were created based on input from scouts, scouting directors and other talent evaluators. It also takes into account skill set, upside, proximity to the Majors and potential immediate impact to their teams.
The Top 100 includes players with 2024 rookie status, which includes players that debuted in 2023 that don’t have the service time (45 days on the active roster), at-bats (130) or innings pitched (50) to graduate.
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