Texas Rangers might have found their next fast-rising slugger

While the Texas Rangers desperately try to climb to an admittedly slight chance that they'll make the postseason, the franchise is also still looking towards the future. To that end, the team has already promoted one of the players it drafted just a few months ago, outfielder Paxton Kling.

Kling was a 7th-round pick of the Rangers after a successful run with Louisiana State and Penn State. While he was solid enough with the Bayou Bengals, he had a breakout campaign in 2025 as a member of the Nittany Lions. This past season, he slahed .358/.470/.632/1.102 with 13 home runs for the Big Ten school. After being drafted, he has continued to show that he's a pretty impressive slugger, despite doing so in a short period of time.

Texas Rangers fast track Paxton Kling with promotion

The outfielder played just 10 games at Single-A Hickory and has gotten a nice start to his professional career. So far, he's slashed .368/.395/.605 and has now been promoted by the Texas Rangers to High-A Hub City.

This is especially interesting because, as a college player, Kling could rise through the ranks rather quickly. He's more polished than some high school prospects who are likely spending the rest of their season in Low-A.

Kling has a chance to finish the year in a way where he might kick off the 2026 season at Double-A, and from there, should he continue to hit the way he has so far, he could be staring at a promotion to the Texas Rangers before the 2027 season. For all of that to work, however, he'll first need to show that he can handle High-A pitching over the next few weeks.