Grading the Texas Rangers last 5 first-round draft picks

The 2025 Major League Baseball Draft is less than one week away as top high school and collegiate stars hope to achieve an life-long dream and get their professional baseball career started.

The Texas Rangers enter the draft with the No. 12 overall pick and just the 16th ranked farm system in MLB. That comes due to the trading prospects for a World Series title in 2023 and a influx of youth talent to Arlington over the last few years.

As for the 12th pick, the expectations among sportswriters is that Texas will grab a prep shortstop to eventually take over for Corey Segaer when he moves on. But the Chris Young mold has leaned heavilty in favor of college talent, so who's to really say.

All we can really do is take a look at the team's previous five first-round draftees and evaluate just how good (or bad) they've been at drafting in recent years.

Grading the Texas Rangers last 5 first-round draft picks

Malcolm Moore, C (2024)

Grade: C

Not straying from the mold, Texas drafted a college player first round for the sixth straight season dating back to their 2019 selection of Josh Jung. What did surprise maybe a little bit of people was the drat of catcher, which Texas has never done first round.

But the 21-year-old Stanford backstop impressed the organization during his three years as a Cardinal, which included Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors and an impressive upgrade on lowering his strikeout rate and work behind the plate.

Moore entered the season in High-A but suffered a broken finger in April, causing him to miss some time. Back to play, Moore is slashing .224/.384/.342 with two homers, 12 RBIS, 22 strikeouts and 17 walks in 23 games. He gets a "C" because he's not only still young but he's been limited due to the injury.

Wyatt Langford, OF (2023)

Grade: A

Easily the biggest draft win in the Chris Young-era, Langford entered the organization as perhaps one of their most polished prospects in recent years. After playing with Florida in the 2023 College World Series, Langford played 44 games across the minor league system that year and then was on the big league roster for 2024 Opening Day.

In his rookie year, he struggled to start the year but ended hitting .253 with 16 homers and 74 RBIs in 134 games. This year, he's experiencing a bit of a sophomore slump with his average down and his strikeout numbers higher than expected. But he still leads the team in homers (14) and stolen bases (11) while being among the team leaders in slugging, OPS, RBIs, walks and runs scored.

Langford is also much improved in the outfield. While he mostly plays left field for Texas we've seen him hold his own in center field from time-to-time. Overall, for a 23-year-old in his second season of big leaue ball, it's not too shabby and very much deserving of an "A" grade here.

Kumar Rocker, RHP (2022)

Grade: B-

Now Rocker is an interesting case because he was one of the best collegiate players in the era he was at Vanderbilt. After getting drafted in 2021 by the Mets and not getting signed due to medical concerns, the 25-year-old played independent ball for a season before getting drafted by Texas third overall a year later.

Probably possessing better stuff than his teammate Leiter, the right-hander got derailed by Tommy John in 2022. Afte recovering he finally made his big league debut in May 2023 and began the season with Texas this year.

It started rough in 2025 and went to the IL in April with a right shoulder injury. He returned on June 4 when Nathan Eovaldi hit the IL and a bad start in Tampa Bay raised his ERA to 8.87 for the season. However, since then he's put in quality starts, not allowing more than two runs over his last four games and his ERA has fallen to 5.80.

Jack Leiter, RHP (2021)

Grade: B+

The first of the Vandy Boys to get drafted by the Texas Rangers, the 25-year-old looks like he's finally coming into his own this season after a brutal introduction to MLB last year.

Last season's nine game sample size, he appeared in 35 2/3 innings and hitters just tee'd off on the rookie for a .297 average and ended the season with an 0-3 record and 8.83 ERA. When he reported to spring training in 2025, his fastball velocity had kicked up to the upper-90s and people were excited about his future.

While he still lacks the ability to put away hitter (he's very good at getting in pitcher's counts), Leiter has a 4.32 ERA, 63 strikeouts and a .232 opponent batting average in 75 innings. Not fantastic numbers but a welcomed turnaround from what the Rangers were seeing from him last year.

Justin Foscue, INF (2020)

Grade: D

There's a tendency to grade on a curve for Foscue because not only was he drafted during the weird COVID season but he also really hasn't been given a full, fair shot in the big leagues. I understand that it's probably more of a chance than most get but I still remain firm in not a full "F" grade.

The 27-year-old Mississippi State Bulldog was taken 14th overall in 2020 and since he's been pretty dreadful. He got his first stint in the big leagues last season and ended the year on an 0-for-36 stretch, which was increased to 42 hitless at-bats this year until he recorded a double on July 1 against Baltimore.

Even with that in mind, he's still only getting a "D" because of his lack of play. But he is scary close to a failing grade and if he doesn't start producing in the limited chances he's getting now, it will downgrade to that "F" real quick.