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Rangers Talent Pipeline: Former First-Round Pick Finally Has Red-Hot Bat

The Texas Rangers have been waiting for this former first-round pick to get it going at the plate and the bat is red hot.
Matt Postins|
Texas Rangers first round draft pick Malcolm Moore.
Texas Rangers first round draft pick Malcolm Moore. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

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Texas Rangers

The struggles have been real for Texas Rangers catching prospect Malcolm Moore.

Since joining the franchise as a first-round pick out of Stanford in 2024, he has struggled at the plate. He barely hit .200 in two minor league seasons and even extra at-bats at the Arizona Fall League couldn’t get him going. Injuries have been a factor, too.  

Texas has little in the catching pipeline and the Rangers need their Top 30 prospect to get his bat going. Well, it’s almost like Moore got the message.

With High-A Hub City he is slashing .318/.409/.573 with six home runs and 21 RBI in 28 games. May has been especially good. He entered the month with a .231 batting average. In May he slashed .444/.528/.822 with four home runs and 12 RBI. That included a grand slam this week.

Now the No. 18 prospect in the organization, the Rangers need Moore to stay hot so it can lead to a promotion to Double-A Frisco this year. With Kyle Higashioka a free agent after this season and Danny Jansen a free agent after the 2027 season, the 2028 season would be the perfect time for Moore to assume the starting job.

Caden Scarborough Returns

Pitcher Caden Scarborough missed part of spring training with a cancer scare after he was diagnosed with a melanoma during a routine skin check. That delayed his build-up for a season in which he has risen to become the organization’s No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline.

Last week, he got back on a mound for the first time this season with the ACL Rangers and while he gave up some damage, it’s a start. He pitched 1.2 innings, giving up two runs on three hits. He also walked a batter and struck out two. It’s only a matter of time before he gets back to a full-season affiliate. But expect the path to be a slower one given his late start.

Big Promotions

The Rangers made three big minor league promotions during the week.

First, they promoted pitcher David Davalillo from Double-A Frisco to Triple-A Round Rock. He is one of Texas’ top pitching prospects and he was on the Rangers’ taxi squad briefly last week as they were waiting for more word on Nathan Eovaldi’s left side tightness. He went 4.1 innings in his Express debut, giving up four hits and six earned runs.

Second, the Rangers promoted pitcher Dalton Pence from High-A Hub City to Frisco. Another Top 30 prospect, he was 0-1 with a 2.59 ERA in five games at Hub City, as he struck out 30 and walked five in 24.1 innings. In his Frisco debut he went five innings, giving up five hits and two earned runs as he struck out three and walked two.

Third, Texas promoted from Hub City to Frisco. He’s not a Top 30 prospect, but he was slamming the ball at Hub City with a slash of .314/.434/.559 with six home runs and 20 RBI. With Frisco he’s batting .429 with a home run and nine RBI in five games.

While the development of all three players is important, Disla bears monitoring. The Rangers don't have much at first base in the pipeline and Jake Burger only has two more years of team control at the Major League level.

Return of the Brock

At one time Brock Porter was a highly touted prospect in the Rangers’ system. Porter was the Rangers’ fourth-round pick out of high school and showed enough stuff to be treated like a Top 30 prospect. He’s not among those luminaries anymore, but he’s starting to prove some things at High-A Hub City.

After this week’s action he is 4-0 with a 1.89 ERA in six games, all in relief. He has struck out 24 and walked 15 in 19 innings. He is reinventing himself as a reliever and a promotion to Frisco can’t be far off.

Who is Luke Hanson?

He is not a lost Hanson brother from “Slap Shot” or a fourth brother from the band Hanson. But he may have had the biggest single game of any Rangers affiliated players last week.

Hanson was the Rangers’ 15th round pick last year out of Virginia. With Hub City last week, he had a game in which he went 3-for-6 with two home runs and nine RBI. He hit another home run on Sunday, but he only had two RBI in the game.

That one game is going to live one for a while in Hub City.

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Matthew Postins
MATT POSTINS

Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers Major League Baseball for OnSI. He also covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.

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