What Philosophy Should Rangers Have in This Year's MLB Draft?

The Texas Rangers have followed pretty much the same formula over the last few years when it comes to the MLB draft.

Early on, the Rangers seemingly stick to consensus rankings, not straying too far from the projections and playing it relatively safe when they come on the clock.

In some cases, it has paid off.

With the No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 MLB draft, they selected outfielder Wyatt Langford out of Florida, whom many analysts believed was the best player available at the time.

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They have hit on that selection, with Langford being the starting left fielder on Opening Day in 2024 less than a year after being selected.

Despite not having a selection in the second or third round, the Rangers still did well that year with Alejandro Ozuna coming off the board in the fifth, Caden Scarborough being selected in the sixth and Maxon Martin being picked in the 11th.

Last year, Texas played it safe early on, using their first three picks on players who weren’t considered the highest-upside selections.

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But, when they did take a swing, it was on prep infielder Devin Fitz-Gerald, who has already made some positive strides after being selected in the fifth round of the 2024 MLB draft.

Through his first 41 professional games between Rookie Ball and Single-A, Fitz-Gerald has hit six home runs and seven doubles, recording 20 RBI with eight stolen bases. His slash line is an impressive .302/.428/.482 in 173 plate appearances.

It will be interesting to see how aggressive the Rangers are with their first pick, No. 12 overall, in the 2025 MLB draft.

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As shared by Kiley McDaniel of ESPN, they will have no shortage of selections with a wide range of riskiness involved.

“The board is lining, up so the Rangers will likely choose from the second tier of players which will mean deciding between a range of different upsides: low (Ike Irish, Gavin Kilen), medium (Kyson Witherspoon, Wehiwa Aloy, Brendan Summerhill, Gavin Fien) and high (Steele Hall, Gage Wood),” McDaniel wrote.

Not only does Texas have to figure out how risky they want to be with their selection, but they have to narrow things down to whether they want to target a pitcher or a position player.

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2022, when they took a swing on Kumar Rocker, was the last time they selected a pitcher with their first pick. The previous year, they selected his former Vanderbilt teammate, Jack Leiter, with the No. 2 overall pick in the draft.

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