Friday, July 25

ARLINGTON -- Gavin Fien’s temporary locker sat nestled between Corey Seager and Josh Jung in the clubhouse at Globe Life Field. 

Fien, the Rangers’ first-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, agreed to terms with the organization on Tuesday, and made his way to Arlington to make it official. It was almost right that he sat between Seager -- the franchise shortstop -- and Jung -- Texas’ 2019 first-rounder. 

At 6-foot-3, the18-year-old shortstop looked like he belonged as he stretched and took batting practice with the big league club on Tuesday afternoon. 

“Words can’t describe the feeling, honestly,” Fien said. “It's hard to describe being an 18-year-old out of high school and what this means for me and my family, the hard work that I put in throughout the years and the grind. The ups and downs. To be a part of such a quality organization is just so incredible. It’s something I'll forever be grateful for.”

The Rangers selected Fien out of Great Oak Calif, high school, with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. He was committed to the University of Texas. Rangers director of amateur scouting Kip Fagg said he first heard about Fien from some of the scouts down in California about three or four years ago. 

On Draft night a week ago, Fagg said that the makeup was what initially drew the Rangers to Fien when he was an underclassmen.  

“[Area scout] Steve [Flores] said we're gonna stay on this guy,” Fagg recalled. “I think first and foremost, we found out the person when getting to know him, What kind of kid he is, and knew what kind of drive he had, and determination he had. Plus the ability. I mean, we have a guy that we believe is a plus-power, plus-hit player who's going to defend and play both sides of the ball and be an offensive threat and have a chance to hit in the middle of your lineup. You can't access those guys a lot.”

Fien, MLB Pipeline’s No. 22 Draft prospect, also had a stellar summer of 2024 that put him among the top high school hitters in this year’s Draft class. He hit .400 with a 1.109 OPS for Team USA in the 18-and-under World Cup qualifier in Panama, then had two hits and two RBIs in the 2024 MLB High School All-American Game to win the MLB Develops MVP Award.

It was around that summer that Fien said the dream of being drafted slowly started to become a reality. It got even better his final high school season. 

He hit .358 with five home runs, one triple, six doubles, 16 RBIs and more walks (11) than strikeouts (9) over 30 games as a senior for Great Oak High School in Temecula, Calif. this spring. Over four varsity seasons with the Wolfpack from 2022-25, he slashed .378/.451/.633/1.084 with 12 home runs, four triples, 29 doubles, and 65 RBIs across 91 total games.

“Every year we talk about what we look for as an organization,” said president of baseball operations Chris Young. “It’s not just talented players, but winning type players who would really embody the core values that we think leads to championship style players. We were very fortunate to land Gavin, who we feel like he embodies every single thing that we look for in a player, from the competitive spirit, the love of the game, the teammate that he is, but certainly the talent that he is as well.” 

Rangers right-hander Jon Gray made what everybody hopes will be his final rehab start this past Saturday night with Triple-A Round Rock, allowing one run in 3 2/3 innings against the Las Vegas Aviators.

Manager Bruce Bochy said that the hope is that Gray will be activated this weekend, ahead of the series against the Braves to close out the homestand. Gray fractured his forearm midway through Spring Training, when he took a comebacker off his wrist.

“It’s good, really good,” Gray said on Monday. “I feel like I'm really loving the shapes of all the pitches right now. I’ve been using this time really well just bettering things, but the buildup has been annoying, like doing one more inning each week. But it feels good. I feel like I can pitch for this team right now.”

A pair of Rangers collected firsts in Monday night’s win over the A’s at Globe Life Field. Rookie infielder Cody Freeman collected his first hit and RBI with a double in the fifth inning, while rookie outfielder Michael Helman hit his first MLB homer immediately afterwards on the very next pitch. 

“Praise the Lord, that was awesome,” Freeman said postgame. “It's just one of those moments where I didn't know what happened from contact to second base. And then once I got on second fans gave me a standing O, and it just meant so much to me. … and Helman’s my boy. I’m so happy that happened. Shout out to him.”

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