2025 MLB Farm Review: Texas Rangers

We’ll start with the offense for the Crawdads, who had several notable performers on the year.

Twenty-year-old outfielder Yeremy Cabrera (26.4% Whiff%) had a very respectable first true season in full-season ball. One year after he had 23 extra-base hits in the ACL, Cabrera slashed .256/.364/.366 with 23 extra-base hits in 102 contests. He walked 52 times in 451 plate appearances and stole a team-high 43 bases.

Maxton Martin, taken in the 2023 MLB Draft in the 11th round, picked up 43 extra-base hits in his full-season ball before he was promoted to High-A.

Paxton Kling, who turned his career around after transferring from LSU to Penn State for 2025, picked up six extra-base hits in his first 10 pro games. That performance earned him a quick promotion to High-A.

It was also a strong, albeit brief, pro debut for 2024 fifth-rounder Devin Fitz-Gerald. Fitz-Gerald took a lot of pitches (60%) in 41 games and walked 28 times over 41 games. He also batted .302/.428/.482 in those 41 contests, putting him in that conversation of a potential breakout prospect for 2026.

The Rangers’ 2025 first-round pick, Gavin Fien, made his pro debut with Hickory late in the year. Fien picked up four extra-base hits in 10 games.

As for the pitching staff, Hickory’s staff for much of the year featured two of the best swing-and-miss pitchers.

Mason Molina (35.5% Whiff% in Low-A) had a successful collegiate career, and he didn’t miss a step in A-ball. Molina struck out 62 over 46.2 IP before he was moved up to High-A. The righty was traded to St. Louis for Phil Maton in the summer.

Caden Scarborough (29.3% Whiff%) struck out 95 over 75 to co-lead the team in strikeouts. A sixth-round pick in 2023, Scarborough worked opposing hitters and pitched even better (19 K, two BB, no ER over 13 IP) in High-A.

Hub City Spartanburgers

Even though Hub City finished as the South Atlantic League runner-up, the Spartanburgers’ offense wasn’t sexy, to say the least.

Perhaps the best performer was Keith Jones, a ninth-round pick from 2024. After Jones hit 10 home runs over 68 games in Low-A, the 23-year-old picked up 13 extra-base hits over 52 games.

The Spartanburgers had 2024 first-round pick Malcolm Moore & second-rounder Dylan Dreiling on the roster for 2025. However, neither put up eye-popping numbers.

Dreiling did significantly better, at least compared to Moore. The former Volunteer posted a .700 OPS, hit for power, and posted a low Whiff% (16.4%). He can fight off pitches left and right, and while he didn’t have a high batting average, the outfielder walked 58 times over 110 games.

Moore had a dreadful year. He slashed .198/.293/.271 with 11 extra-base hits in 57 games. He missed most of the year due to injury.

Moving to the pitching staff, David Davalillo (33.3% Whiff%) and Dalton Pence (28.9% Whiff%) shone in the Hub City rotation. Davalillo was one of the best groundball pitchers in the South Atlantic League. Pence (32.2%) wasn’t as much. However, Pence struck out 51 batters over 46 and didn’t allow a home run.

Kolton Curtis, a 21-year-old undrafted free agent, turned in a splendid season. The right-hander struck out 75 over 66 innings, posted the 20th-highest Whiff% (34.7%), and had a near-47% GB%. Curtis doesn’t throw hard, as he sat primarily in the 90-92 MPH range. However, he has a lot of secondary stuff to play off it, including a changeup and curveball.

Mason Molina struck out 30 over 27.1 IP before he was traded.

Frisco Roughriders

Sebastian Walcott played all of 2025 as a 19-year-old in Frisco. And for all the lofty expectations on him, Walcott played very well as a young player at Double-A.

Walcott slashed .255/.355/.386 with 13 home runs, 32 stolen bases, and 34 stolen bases. However, perhaps the big blemish on his season was the 24 errors he made across 88 games at short. He also spent time in 2025 at third and DH.

As far as where the 6’4” shortstop will play long-term, that remains to be seen. But from a hitting standpoint, he performed well. Walcott took more than he swung and walked a lot, with 70 free passes over 124 contests. However, one area of interest: Walcott had a 46.7% GB% in the Texas League this past season.

As for other notable hitters, Abimelec Ortiz hit 16 home runs and 35 extra-base hits across 89 games. It was a strong performance from Ortiz, who posted a .787 OPS and walked 44 times. He also struck out just 87 times and posted 27.5% Whiff% he had in Double-A.

Infielder Cameron Cauley hit 15 home runs and stole 28 bases as the former third-rounder from 2021 slowly works his way up. Cauley received time at second, short, and center field in 2025, profiling him as a future utilityman. However, one blemish was a 30.2% Whiff%.

Alejandro Osuna was a contact machine for the Roughriders. He slashed .267/.351/.377 across 37 games and posted a sub-15% Whiff%. Osuna was promoted to Triple-A in mid-May.

As for the pitching staff, the Roughriders had three of the best swing-and-miss pitchers in the circuit: Mitch Bratt (29.3% Whiff%), Trey Supak (29.3%), and Kohl Drake (33.2% Whiff%). However, two of those three were traded to the Diamondbacks this past summer.

Who is still in the organization is David Davalillo, who notched 58 strikeouts over 56 innings and limited opposing hitters to a .196 batting average. High groundball pitcher, as indicated by the 45.6% GB%. Running fastball, slider, and split-change are among the weapons in his arsenal.

Round Rock Express

The Express’ 2025 roster included a slew of longtime Minor Leaguers making the Majors, albeit in very different ways.

Cody Freeman, a 2019 draft pick by the Rangers, slashed .336/.382/.549 with 19 home runs and 44 extra-base hits over 97 games. He tied Justin Foscue for the team lead in home runs.

Not a lot of his contact was barreled, as his Barrel% was a tick above 3%. However, he whiffed very few times (10.6%), a sign of things to come with the Rangers.

Blaine Crim, who hit 18 on the season, was claimed off waivers by the Rockies in August. Crim made his MLB debut several months prior in May. He returned to the Majors with Colorado and hit five home runs over 15 games with the Rockies.

As for the pitching staff, the names of interest were Emiliano Teodo, Jose Corniell, and Winston Santos.

We’ll start with Santos, who spent most of 2025 on the IL. Santos had a massive year in 2024, as he struck out 138 batters over 110 innings down in A-ball. This past year, he only made six starts. He was hit around in Double-A but didn’t allow a home run and struck out 22 over 13.2 IP. As such, he only made one start with the Express.

In his lone start, he struck out four over 3.2 IP. A mid-90s fastball that sat 95-97 MPH, coupled with a mid-80s changeup and slider.

Teodo struck out a lot of batters in Double-A back in 2024. But this past year, he battled with injury and struggled with the walks. He conceded 17 over 18 frames in Triple-A.

As for Corniell, he was recovering from UCL reconstruction surgery for most of the year. However, he came back strong, flashing a fastball that was hitting 98 MPH and elicited a lot of swing-and-miss with the sweeper. He wound up receiving a late-season call-up.

Early Projected Top 5 for 2026

1. Sebastian Walcott
2. Gavin Fien
3. AJ Russell
4. Jose Corniell
5. David Davalillo

The Rangers’ prospect pool took a hit in July when Texas traded away Kohl Drake, David Hagaman, and Mitch Bratt to Arizona for Merrill Kelly. Now, you have to give up something to get something. However, that draft depleted an organization that was already thin on pitching prospects.

Walcott and Fien are the top two prospects. That much will likely be the consensus. From there, things get interesting.

Russell, the Rangers’ second-round pick from 2025, is a high-upside arm who could turn out to be a steal. Corniell came back strong late in the year and made his MLB debut in September. And, the likes of Alejandro Rosario, third-round pick Josh Owens, as well as someone like Kolton Curtis, are in the conversation to be top-10 prospects.

In the case of Davalillo — who did make our top five — and Owens, both are borderline top-five.