Sebastian Walcott’s Frustration Clear as Rangers Star Prospect Set for Surgery

The Texas Rangers won’t have their top prospect, Sebastian Walcott, for the bulk of the 2026 season after an elbow injury.

American League Future infielder Sebastian Walcott. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Sebastian Walcott thought he was out of the woods.

The Texas Rangers shut down their No. 1 prospect after just a couple of games in the Arizona Fall League in October with what they called “elbow fatigue.” An MRI showed no damage, but they had him rest for a couple of months.

December came around and he started throwing. No issues. January came around and he reported to Arizona to ramp up and threw harder. No issues. But last week, the right elbow barked at him. An MRI confirmed an injury to his UCL, and he’ll head to surgery next week for a repair by Rangers team surgeon Dr. Keith Meister.

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All that work to prep and Walcott, who isn’t yet 20 years old, will miss the bulk of the season. There was a little frustration, he admitted.

“[Frustration was] as high as it could possibly be,” Walcott said to reporters on Friday. “When you’re coming back and especially trying to be around these guys and learn a lot and for it to come back up it’s frustrating. There were a lot of emotions coming over my body.”

Sebastian Walcott’s Road to Recovery

The Texas Rangers logo painted on the turf behind home plate at Globe Life Field. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

It’s not yet clear what type of surgery Walcott will have. His elbow injury could require a Tommy John surgery. Or it could require only an internal brace, which has less recovery time. Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young said earlier this week that Dr. Meister won’t know which is needed until he performs the surgery.

Walcott doesn’t have a timeline to return. He hasn’t ruled out returning sometime in 2026. Neither have the Rangers.

“He [Dr. Meister] told me he did [Trevor] Story and he was back in six months,” Walcott said.

Story had surgery on his UCL in January of 2023 and returned to action on Aug. 8. Other players have had Tommy John surgery, or a variation of it, and returned to action on roughly the same timetable, including Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani. Position players can return faster because they don’t have to worry about a pitching build-up.

Those teams made their stars’ buildups easier. Philly moved Harper to first base, so he had to throw less. Ohtani is the Dodgers’ designated hitter on days he doesn’t pitch, but he didn’t pitch in 2024 as he continued to recover.

If Walcott has the surgery next week, as he expects, a late August return in the minors is possible. But Texas is unlikely to rush its star prospect.

“We'll have him back hitting before he's throwing and he'll get at bats, meaningful at bats at some point later in the season, but it too early to jump to those conclusions,” Young said.