Rangers Star Two-Way Prospects Heading for Promotion to Hickory

When the Arizona Complex League ends in late July, teams like the Texas Rangers must make decisions about what to do with those prospects.

Some stay behind for extended work at the Surprise, Ariz., complex. Others move on to their first taste of a full season affiliate baseball. The latter is reportedly the case for both Seong-Jun Kim and Josh Owens.

The Nos. 8 and 9 prospects in the organization, per MLB Pipeline, will be promoted to Hickory later this week, per MLB.com. The Rangers don't announce minor league transactions. Neither player’s promotion has appeared on their MiLB.com page. Full season minor league affiliates were not in action on Monday.

If both are promoted, they could make their debut with the Crawdads as early as Tuesday.

Both are unusual prospects in that they can pitch and play in the field, and, to this point, the Rangers have allowed them to explore both pathways.

Kim and Owens Move to Hickory

2-Homer night for Two-Way Player Josh Owens in the Arizona Complex League! 💪

Owens has 5 homers in his last 5 games and a 2.08 ERA on the mound across 8.2 IP so far this season. pic.twitter.com/uArurKXxa3
— Rangers Player Development (@TEXPlayerDev) June 12, 2026

The Rangers signed Kim directly out of Korea as part of its 2025 international signing class, and he spent three games in the Dominican Summer league last year. He played 48 games in the ACL and slashed .303/.419/.545 with seven home runs and 34 RBI. He’s listed as a shortstop, but only player 13 games there. He was the DH 29 times and pitched in five games.

On the mound, the 19-year-old right-hander went 0-1 with a 1.04 ERA in five starts. He struck out 10 and walked five in 8.2 innings. Batters hit .194 against him.

Owens was the Rangers’ third round pick in the 2025 MLB draft out of Providence High School in Johnson City, Tenn. He started his pro career at Hickory with eight games in 2025 and batted .083.

With the ACL Rangers, the 19-year-old played in 51 games and slashed .255/.345/.469 with nine home runs and 35 RBI. On the mound the right-hander appeared in 12 games, with seven starts, and went0-2 with a 3.48 ERA. He struck out 24 and walked seven in 20.2 innings as batters hit .308 against him.

With the ACL Rangers he played 21 games at designated hitter, 11 games at shortstop and eight games at second base.

The Rangers have not put a timetable on when either player should choose a path. Ideally, the organization would love nothing more than to unlock a pair of players with the two-way talent of a Shohei Ohtani. Texas would likely settle for one panning out like that and the other choosing a path that best suits their talent. Moving to Hickory just represents the next step in figuring that out.

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