What Sebastian Walcott’s Swift Recovery, Promotion Means for Rangers Future

Sebastian Walcott is back in Frisco. That’s great news for the Texas Rangers and RoughRiders fans.

Walcott made his full-season affiliate debut on Friday as the RoughRiders faced Tulsa. It was his first game with the RoughRiders since last season, and it was his third game this season after he underwent internal brace surgery on his right elbow in February.

The move put him a bit ahead of schedule. Per MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry, the Rangers were hoping to drop Walcott with a full-season affiliate in either late July or early August. Instead, the Rangers had him play his first game in the Arizona Complex League on Tuesday while everyone in baseball was watching the MLB All-Star Game in Philadelphia.

So what does all this mean?

Sebastian Walcott’s Swift Recovery and Future

Sebastian is backkkkk

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Walcott had surgery approximately five months ago. That’s a swift return to field for the prospect, faster than Major Leaguers like Philadelphia’s Bryce Harper and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani. Both needed six-to-seven months to return to hitting duties only after they suffered a similar injury.

Walcott returned faster because he only needed an internal brace surgery, a procedure that is one of the specialties of Rangers surgeon Dr. Keith Meister, who performed Walcott’s surgery. The brace is designed to accelerate recovery time. He was also helped by not needing the fully Tommy John reconstruction surgery.

Both Ohtani and Harper returned to hitting-only duties when they began playing. Neither was ready to resume throwing and neither is Walcott. When he played in the ACL on Tuesday, he was the DH. He was there on Wednesday when he hit his first home run. Walcott didn’t play on Thursday.

He was Frisco’s DH on Friday. He should remain a DH until his arm is built up to fully play in the field. The Phillies worked around that in Harper’s first season back by moving him to first base to reduce his need to throw. He’s played that position ever since.

Texas is more likely to let Walcott DH and let him stretch out his arm as there is no need to rush the 20-year-old. He was not expected to make the Major League roster this year and it’s unlikely he’ll be a late call-up.

What the Rangers likely want is for Walcott to show that he can duplicate what he did at Frisco last season — a slash of .255/.355/.386 with 13 home runs and 59 RBI. If Walcott can do that by the end of August, a promotion to Triple-A Round Rock is possible. That’s where the Rangers had hoped he would start this season.

Ideally, Walcott won’t suffer setbacks and end the season at Round Rock. He would get another non-roster invitation to spring training and the chance to compete for a Major League job — assuming spring training starts on time. If he doesn’t win a job he heads back to Triple-A.

The net positive is that Walcott’s MLB trajectory has only been minimally altered. Many outside scouts felt he could reach the Majors by 21 years old. That’s still possible. His swift recovery has seen to that.

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