Rangers Prospects: How have the team's 2024 draft picks started this season?

The Texas Rangers went after potential long-term solutions at center field and catcher during the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft and they did so with their early draft capital.

With their first three picks they opted to go the collegiate route, beginning with Stanford catcher Malcom Moore. The next two rounds they took outfielders Dyan Dreiling and Casey Cook.

Keeping that in mind, the minor leagues is also underway and we know how hard it is for fans to pay attention to all of team's prospects, so we decided to check in on a few of them and update you on how their first full season in professional baseball is going thus far.

How are 4 of the Rangers' 2024 draft picks performing to kick off the 2025 season in the minors?

Malcolm Moore

While being somewhat of a draft for need pick, Moore displayed plenty of talent worthy of the coveted last pick of the first round. With no other real major competitors at catcher in the system, he is arguably the most important player in the farm currently.

To start his 2025, he has a slash line of .267/.463/.467 for a .930 OPS. He is being asked to navigate not only how to hit professional level pitching, but also learning how to approach managing a staff as well. It will be important to be patient with Moore's development. This start has shown it might not be that long for him to figure it out.

The Rangers development of defensive catchers will likely make Moore go from "can he stick" to a MLB level catcher in no time. The development of guys like Jose Trevino, Jonah Heim among others displays the Rangers strength of catcher development.

A sad development has been Malcolm Moore's injury to his thumb. He broke a finger on his right hand off a foul tip. He impressively hit a home run after this occured later in the game. Specifics on the injury are not available though he has been placed on the 7-day minor league injured list.

Dylan Dreiling

After being a firecracker in Tennessee and winning the College World Series, Rangers fans were delighted to hear Chris Young draft Dreiling in the second round.

Dreiling is slashing .257/.342/.400 with a .742 OPS, a home run, six RBIs and two doubles in nine games with the Rangers High-A affiliate Hub City. On Tuesday, Dreiling recorded his first three-hit game of the season in a 3-for-4, 3 run, a double and his first home run of his 2025 campaign.

His offensive game is his strong suit while his defense still needs a bit of work. Texas hopes to develop him to a playable level defender likely in left field but it is worth noting that he did get 19 starts last season at centerfield for Hickory.

His bat through nine games hasn't been lethal but his ETA is still projected to be 2027. Once he gets hot this season, this may be a blitz right to Double-A or even Triple-A by season's end.

Casey Cook

Cook enjoyed a great career playing mainly in left field for the North Carolina Tar Heels. He created a dynamite duo at UNC with Vance Honeycutt that featured highlight reels and massive wins.

Most notably for Texas, he logged only 7 career games at UNC at second base and has interestingly enough already logged 27 games at second base in the minors for Texas.

The change in position as well as change to the professional levels has likely lead to his very slow start. His slash line to begin the year is .158/.250/.250 for a .408 OPS.

I loved Cook's bat at UNC and fully expect him to excel at some point in the minor leagues. If it wasn't for Vance Honeycutt, one of the best modern day college baseball players ever, Cook would have been the best player on a team that made it to Omaha in 2024.

After a few months fully adjusting to professional pitching, it will be interesting to see how he is performing at second base. The position change will likely lead to slower promotions, and that is ok.

Rafe Perich

While not being the flashiest name drafted in 2024 by the Rangers, Perich has gotten off to a good start in A ball. Through 38 at bats, he has a .237/.311/.421 slash line for a .732 OPS.

He logged starts every position in the infield and even on the mound in college. He seems to be sticking at third base so far logging games only there so far.

The results have been shaky so far based on fielding percentage. If the bat is there, the Rangers can work with it. Settling in on just one or two positions should make the transition easier for him.

If the Rangers can develop their 7th round pick, that will be a huge credit to the system. Late round development has long been a question for the Rangers and they are looking to change the stigma surrounding their later round picks.