Rangers’ Other Star Shortstop Prospect Building Buzz Heading Into 2026

There was obvious buzz around Texas Rangers shortstop prospect Sebastian Walcott. But Texas has another talented shortstop in the pipeline.

Now that Walcott is out for the bulk of the season after suffering an elbow surgery that will require surgery, he’ll have to watch as other prospects try to catch him. In Fangraphs’ recent Top 100 prospects list he remained the organization’s top prospect and was ranked No. 30 overall. He is unlikely to drop much with the injury.

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Three other players made the Top 100, including pitcher Caden Scarbrough at No. 71 and pitcher David Davalillo at No. 89. Winston Santos, another top pitching prospect who is at Rangers spring training, was just outside the Top 100 at No. 103.

But Yolfran Castillo stood out. He was ranked No. 70 overall, making him the No. 2 prospect in the organization. He also plays shortstop, and Walcott’s absence from the field gives the Venezuela native a chance to accelerate his progress.

Yolfran Castillo’s Big Chance

Texas got him at a bit of a bargain, paying him a $647,500 bonus in January of 2024. That was well below the $3.2 million Texas paid Walcott in January of 2023 when he signed out of The Bahamas. At the time he was one of the top prospects in international baseball. It was the second-largest bonus for an amateur from the Bahamas.

He went to the Dominican Summer League as a 16-year-old that summer. He played so well in the DSL that the Rangers moved him stateside after 20 games and he played his final 15 games that season in the Arizona Complex League.

He slashed .377/.481/.415 with 26 RBI and 37 runs but he didn’t hit a home run in 2024. But it was the .414/.552/.471 slash in the DSL that caught the Rangers’ attention. It’s rare for a 16-year-old to come stateside after just 20 games in the Dominican.

Not wanting to rush him, Texas sent him back to the ACL to start last season. In 60 games he slashed .260/.310/.366 with a home run and 31 RBI. That earned him a trip to Class-A Hickory, where he held up that slash against better pitching. He went .255/.325/.321 with 10 RBI. His batting average dropped by more than 100 points from season to season, but the importance was the consistency from the ACL to Class-A.

He’s proven to have a good eye at the plate, with 84 strikeouts against 53 walks in 471 at-bats. His speed should eventually play on the basepaths, where he has 29 stolen bases. He should build on the extra-base hits to this point, just 18 doubles and eight triples.

Fangraphs put it succinctly: “Castillo is an exciting young hitter with a rare combination of contact ability and physical projection.”

Texas hasn’t assigned its prospects to minor league affiliates. But Castillo, now 19 years old, could start either at Hickory or High-A Hub City to begin 2026. The focus will be on his on-field development as Walcott works on rehabbing from surgery.

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