Texas Rangers Star Veteran Taking Phenom Prospect Under His Wing This Spring

Sustained success if what every professional sports franchise wants, and for the Texas Rangers, they have the foundation in place to win for the next decade.

That's why it was so disappointing what happened last year.

Following their incredible run through the playoffs that resulted in the franchise's first-ever World Series championship in 2023, expectations were high for the Rangers with virtually all of their stars back for 2024 and additional offseason pieces brought in.

But injuries had other plans for Texas.

This group is ready to put what happened last year behind them, and with players who struggled in 2024 making adjustments to their games and others who were injured coming back healthy, the Rangers look like one of the best teams in the American League once again.

To keep things rolling, though, it's the future stars like Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford who have to hit the ceilings they have been projected to reach.

It's not only on them, though.

Beyond that duo, there are others in the pipeline who are expected to become impact players for Texas when that time comes, and perhaps no one has a higher ceiling than phenom prospect Sebastian Walcott.

Signed as an international free agent out of the Bahamas at 17 years old in 2023, scouts have already put the lofty expectations on him that he'll become the best player to ever come from that country.

That's a conversation for a later date, but the Rangers are trying to help him reach that ceiling by putting him with veteran Marcus Semien during spring camp.

"It's awesome having Marcus as a locker mate. He's easy to talk to, we can talk about anything. Working out, baseball, outside of baseball. We talk about almost everything. He's just a great guy to talk to. He's also a great guy to get advice from. He's been in the game so long and he's achieved so much," Walcott said per Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News.

Per the insider, the veteran and prospect try to beat each other to the facility every morning, which means the 18-year-old Walcott is showing up before 6:30 a.m.

That type of dedication will serve him well going forward, especially when the talent gap he has over the other players he faces on the farm starts to level out the further up the pipeline he climbs.

The Rangers aren't expecting Walcott to be in the mix this season.

He's played just one full year of professional baseball, getting into only five games at the Double-A level in 2024.

But that doesn't mean Texas will hold him back if he's ready.

"We don't put limits on players, especially not the great ones," general manager Ross Fenstermaker has previously stated. So if the imposing 6-foot-4 infielder can climb up the pipeline quickly, he could be a late call up at some point in 2025.

Semien's mentorship this spring will help with that.

"I'm sure Sebastian will watch Marcus and how he goes about his business. Nobody sticks more to his routine as consistently as he does. It's pretty impressive," manager Bruce Bochy stated.

The expectations for Walcott are high, but having a consummate professional like Semien mentoring him during his first big league camp is a great way to get his career going towards making The Show.

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