As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
The Texas Rangers have an interesting farm system. Headlined by Sebastian Walcott, who, as an old grizzled scout might say, has the look of an impact player. He has some of the more eye-dropping tools. However, the Rangers have invested heavily in pitchers, as two-fifths of their rotation is filled up by Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter, who are both having interesting starts to the year. Jack Leiter looks more like the Vanderbilt version of himself, where the command is inconsistent, but the stuff is good enough. The recent draft for the Rangers resulted in many college performers adding some solid, if unspectacular, bats to the system that can use depth. The best part of the Rangers’ scouting set-up is their eye for talent in the IFA market and their aggressiveness with prospects they believe in. Look at Yolfran Castillo, who made the rare trip from the DSL to the AZL in the same year. This is a good system, with a bit of everything; there’s some good close-to-the-majors pitching, the star-level talent Rangers fans can dream of in Sebastian Walcott, and ample lottery tickets come from their low minors set-up.
About Our Top 20 Lists
Prospects Live, led by its evaluating team & Director of Scouting Rhys White, is proud to begin rolling out its annual offseason system reports. The team combines industry feedback, our live looks, film, and available data to compile each org. We believe this effort has enabled us to present you, the reader, with our best possible view of the prospects in the organization.
We have constructed this list using the Overall Future Potential (OFP) scale. There is no perfect equation for ranking prospects or assigning value to them, but we believe this method is the best possible approach. Every prospect on this list has been graded based on the tried and true 20-80 scouting scale. An 80 is the highest tool and OFP grade on the scale, reserved for MVP-caliber players or tools. Conversely, a 20 is reserved for non-prospects (NPs). A 50 OFP falls in the middle, indicating our evaluators deem this player a future average major league player. Below the 50 OFP tier are the 45s and 40s, comprising a large majority of players on each list. These are specific-role players, such as platoon hitters, utility players, or low-leverage relievers. Above the 50 OFP tier are the 55s and 60s. A 55 represents a future above-average player, and a 60 OFP designation is reserved for future All-Star caliber players.
In addition to the tool grades and OFP, we will also include a 'Risk' associated with each prospect. We use this to better communicate to you, the reader, whether a grade is more aggressive or conservative in nature. The evaluation team has worked hard to apply both the grades and risk components to better illustrate how each individual prospect stacks up in their respective system and in the baseball ecosystem.
Having only turned 18 years old and made it to Double-A in 2024, Sebastian Walcott is the buzziest name in all minor leagues. Sebastian Walcott is a twitched-up athlete with a general smoothness that he brings to the game of baseball. The pride of the Bahamian baseball scene is an easy plus-athlete with easy plus power projection and is a twitched-up athlete. It is so much so that if he grew up in the US, there is a chance we won't see him playing baseball as he is built like a prototypical receiver with long arms and a lean frame. He is lean but has good muscle all over his frame. The Rangers have deployed him at shortstop and third base. He is loose and, at times, reckless at shortstop, and this should be something that gets dialed in as he gets more pro experience. He takes unconventional routes to batted balls hit on the dirt and can sometimes be far too upright in his stance defensively. Again, he is 18 at the time of writing this, and there will be plenty of time to work on this. In the batter's box, Walcott has one of the highest ceilings of any prospect; he has crazy raw power and just might hit enough to tap into his power. His swing decisions are aggressive, and he wants to get out in front of fastballs, but this approach leads to some ugly swing-and-miss. A lot of his pitch recognition issues can be excused away because of his relative lack of experience, but not all of them. He is looking to go up to the plate and swing early and often, and this approach, mixed with some red flags about breaking ball recognition, muddies the water on his overall bat-to-ball skills. The quality of contact when he makes it, though, is exciting, routinely barreling up pitches with ease and with some natural loft in his swing, which, paired with his electric bat speed, allows him to generate pretty crazy raw power. He is also one of the smoothest athletes you will see, with easy plus speed. As he continues to fill out, he may ultimately move off shortstop but stay on the left side of the infield, where his plus arm is an asset. Walcott is one of the more high-risk, high-reward types out there and has the highest upside in baseball. - Rhys White
Dynasty Outlook
There are great prospects and then there are exceptional prospects; Walcott falls into the latter bucket. Walcott is on an incredibly steep learning curve where he is succeeding at a high level against talent between 5-6 years older than him. Walcott posted at 125 wRC+ in 515 PA mostly at High-A with a few games at Double-A. While his power numbers might look modest (11 HR), there is plenty of juice here. He has recently posted a max EV of 115.1 mph and his 90th percentile EV was 106.4 mph in 2024 and there is more room in his frame to fill out. There is also more than just power here as Walcott has plus speed and an improving hit tool. He’s not only an elite real baseball prospect; he’s a top-of-the-scale fantasy prospect who could be number one very quickly. He’ll start in Double-A and could be a late season call-up candidate with good health and performance. - Greg Hoogkamp
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
Director of Dynasty Content - Canadian born and raised, moved to Arkansas with my wife and two sons Ezra and Ari. Followed and played baseball my whole life; played dynasty for 25+ years.
