Friday, August 14

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ARLINGTON -- The Rangers didn’t sell at the Trade Deadline, doubling down on the big league club’s push for a postseason position. 

But despite that, they still found a way to fill in the gaps in the farm system with a quality Draft that had them adding high-class talent within the first two days of the event. 

“Sometimes the best deals are the deals you say 'No' to,” president of baseball operations Chris Young said after the Deadline. “I think we did a good job of doing that and staying disciplined, as well.”

The Rangers' Top 30 prospects list received a midseason re-rank to account for those additions via the MLB Draft.

Here’s a look at the Rangers’ top prospects:

1. Sebastian Walcott, SS (MLB’s No. 9)

2. Caden Scarborough, RHP (MLB’s No. 77)

3. Gio Rojas, LHP (MLB’s No. 97)

4. AJ Russell, RHP 

5. Yolfran Castillo, SS/3B

Complete Top 30 list » 

Biggest jump/fall

Here are the players whose ranks changed the most from the preseason list:

Jump: Hector Osorio, OF (unranked to No. 14)

Osorio made his full-season debut in 2025, ranking third in the Single-A Carolina League with a .393 on-base percentage at age 20. He returned to Hickory this spring and slashed .309/.437/.581 in 53 games before a promotion to High-A Hub City.

Fall: Jose Corniell, RHP (No. 4 to No. 24)

Corniell made his MLB debut in a relief outing on the final day of the 2025 season after a long Tommy John rehab while in the Minors. He’s got the stuff to be a quality big league pitcher, but hasn’t quite been given the opportunity to iron things out at either Triple-A or the Major League level due to the needs of a big league club that is still trying to contend on a daily basis. He’s been on the injured list with a flexor strain since throwing 35 pitches in one inning in a July 20 loss to the White Sox. 

New to the list

Here are the players added to the Top 30 from outside the organization:

No. 3, Gio Rojas, LHP (Draft, No. 16 overall) 

No. 7, Connor Comeau, 3B/SS (Draft, No. 54 overall)

No. 11, Brody Bumila, LHP (Draft, No. 89 overall) 

Best tools

Players are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale for future tools -- 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is plus and 70-80 is well above average. Players in parentheses have the same grade.

Hit: 55 -- Yolfran Castillo (Connor Comeau, Hector Osorio, Sebastian Walcott)

Power: 65 -- Sebastian Walcott

Run: 60 -- Paxton Kling (Josh Owens)

Arm: 70 -- Sebastian Walcott

Defense: 60 -- Yolfran Castillo

Fastball: 80 -- Brody Bumila

Curveball: 50 -- Leandro Lopez

Slider: 70 -- Emiliano Teodo

Changeup: 55 -- Mason McConnaughey

Control: 55 -- Caden Scarborough

“It is a big road trip. We haven’t given ourselves a lot of room for another streak like we went through that Houston series and Tampa. The only way that we can control our destiny is by winning. We’re not going to be able to win every game, but we’re going to need to win a lot more than we lose for the rest of the season. ... We need to keep putting pressure on, and eventually let the dam break. Now, today, our pitching kept us in there and the dam finally broke in the 10th inning.

"I would like it to happen sooner, right? But we have to just keep staying the path and keep the pressure on until the dam finally breaks. So keeping thoughts small and focusing on today. It is a big stretch, but we’re just going to try to do that, to focus on one day at a time.” -- Brandon Nimmo, on the importance of this week

Jacob deGrom entered Thursday’s series finale in Anaheim with an eye on 2,000 strikeouts, a milestone he seemed on track to reach after punching out two of the five he needed in the first inning.

Then, after a 32-pitch second, deGrom exited the game with right triceps fatigue as the Rangers went on to drop their third straight. deGrom said he felt tightness in that second frame and while he believed that he could have pitched through it, the team decided to play it safe.

“I’m not too concerned,” deGrom said. “Hopefully, I’ll make my next one, we’ll see. Tonight, it just, there in the second it was tight and just didn’t want to loosen up. I haven’t really had that before.”

deGrom is expected to go for imaging on Friday as the team arrives in West Sacramento for a weekend set against the Athletics.

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