This Rangers prospect will turn heads in his first full professional season in 2025

There's always lofty expectations when you are a player drafted as a top pick for a professional sports organization. It sends a message to the team and its fans that you are indeed going to be a top tier talent, even though that is still up in the air.

Former top prospects in the Texas Rangers system can attest to feeling an massive weight on their shoulder and unfortunately not being able to live up to that standard set before them. Thankfully for Malcolm Moore he's still early in professional career, that he still has time to show it.

Moore was the Rangers first-round pick in the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft. The 21-year-old was the catcher for Stanford University before ending up in professional baseball. By the end of the 2024 season, Moore was surprisingly ranked as the organization's fifth-best prospect, due to a strong sophomore year at Stanford and high upside potential as he matures.

Who is Malcolm Moore?

Moore a native of Sacramento, California, was named the California Gatorade Player of the Year as a high school junior and senior, hitting over .500 in back-to-back years. Upon graduating, he played summer collegiate ball in the West Coast League, hitting .400 with an OPS over 1.000 in 13 games.

As a freshman at Stanford Moore was the team's starting catcher playing in 64 games, hitting .311 with 15 home runs and 63 RBI's and was name the Pac-12 Conference Freshman of the Year. He finished his collegiate career with a .958 OPS, 31 home runs and 99 RBIs in 118 games before being selected 30th overall by Texas in last year's draft.

His first sample of professional ball didn't go great, appearing in only 25 games at Low-A Hickory and only hitting .209 striking out 29 times and only walking three times. He also struggled to find his power, hitting only three home runs and 12 RBI's.

What does the future look like for Moore?

Earlier this month MLB.com projected that Moore has the potential to be the team's top rated prospect by 2027, pointing to his ability to hit for high average and 20+ home runs while providing average defense.

"An offensive-minded catcher, Moore was the second backstop selected (30th overall in the first round) in the 2024 Draft. He's a left-handed hitter with plus raw power and he made strides with his plate discipline and defense during his time at Stanford," according to MLB.

Despite questions on his future fit at catcher the Rangers don't seemed too concern, after making great strides in his last season at Stanford and last season in Hickory. If everything needed to be moved around, he can also provide good value at first base or DH.

Moore was invited to big league camp this spring, the team's sixth straight first-rounder to be invited to camp after their draft year. Throughout the next month he will learn from two veteran catchers in Kyle Higashioka and Jonah Heim as well as one of the best coaching staffs in MLB. It'll be a massive learning experience to take with him into the season.

His season likely kicks off with Hickory getting pretty consistent playing time. There he can really focus on making heads turn with his bat-to-ball skills, occasionally hit balls out of the park and gain critical experience in calling his own games and managing a pitching staff.