Baseball Hall of Fame Member’s Son on Cusp of Texas Rangers Top 30 Prospect Status

The Texas Rangers made one of the splashier international free-agent signing of 2023 by dipping into the Dominican Republic and signing Pablo Guerrero.

It wasn’t a stretch for the Rangers to convince his father to allow him to sign with Texas. His father is Vladimir Guerrero Sr., who played one year with the Rangers at the end of his career.

He not only wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, but also of his older brother, Vladimir Jr., who is entering his final year under contract with the Toronto Blue Jays and could be one of the most sought-after free agents next offseason.

Pablo Guerrero is just 18, but he’s already moving up the charts of the Rangers’ organizational rankings. Recently, Baseball America released its list of the prospects who just missed each franchise’s Top 30 rankings.

He was No. 31.

Texas is doing well internationally lately. Sebastian Walcott, a shortstop out of the Bahamas, is 18 and already reached Double-A Frisco. Once pitcher Kumar Rocker graduates from the prospect rankings, Walcott will move into the No. 1 spot in the organization.

That would also allow Guerrero to move into the Top 30.

Guerrero has more development to do, but he’s on a track that could allow him to start challenging for a major league job by 2027.

He started his pro career in the Dominican Summer League in 2023 and finished with a slash line of .224/.361/.360/.721 with four home runs and 20 RBIs.

Last year the Rangers brought him stateside, as he played first with their Arizona Complex League team and then slid over to Class-A Down East to finish the season. His numbers improved, as he slashed .276/.334/.442/.776 with eight home runs and 53 RBIs in 78 games. That included a .301 batting average with the ACL Rangers.

His MiLB.com page shows him assigned to Hickory, which is now the Rangers’ Class-A affiliate after some affiliate shuffling this offseason.

Guerrero’s father played 16 years in the majors, including a one-year stint with the Texas Rangers in 2010, during which the franchise made its first World Series appearance. The elder Guerrero hit .300 with 29 home runs and 115 RBIs.

Guerrero Sr.’s Hall of Fame career included nine All-Star Game appearances, eight Silver Slugger awards and the 2004 American League MVP award.