Texas Rangers 2026 Top 20 Prospects

HT: 6-4 WT: 190 H/T: R/R
Highest Level: AA
ETA: 2027

OFP: 60

Risk: Extreme

Hit: 50
Power: 70
Field: 50
Throw: 60
Run: 55

Scouting Report

If you buy stock in tools, you’ve probably already bought a lot of Sebastian Walcott stock, and for good reason. Walcott was signed by the Rangers in the 2023 international free agency class out of the Bahamas for a hefty $3.2 million bonus, an investment that the Rangers have no regrets about. The Rangers haven’t been hesitant with Walcott; he completely skipped Low-A ball and was pushed to High-A to round out 2023, though he was only 17 years old with a 93 wRC+ in the complex and backfields. Usually, you can chalk moves like this up to getting him some extra at-bats, but Walcott started 2024 in High-A, and by the end of his sophomore season, he was getting some extra reps in Double-A Frisco, where he would start in 2025 as a 19-year-old. His 2025 season was above average for league standards, and obviously, a 110 wRC+ for a teenager at Double-A is very far above average. The most encouraging aspect was this being his first season with a strikeout rate under 25%, and the Bahamian ended up going well under that threshold with a 19.6% K rate. Walcott’s swing is full of effort with a rather long path, though he creates elite bat speed. Walcott’s swing doesn’t appear to correlate with his main problem of launch angles, which we will touch on. There’s not much to fix in Walcott’s swing at all—not like you need to do much process-wise with a potential multi-time All-Star-level prospect. Walcott’s hit tool probably performed a little more like a 45-grade in Double-A, but he only got better as he adjusted to the level, improving his overall Z-Contact rate from 78% to 81% from August to September. Walcott does have some swing-and-miss issues against pitches with steep approach angles and strong drop, and there have also been some struggles with elite velocity, but I can’t freak out too much about a teenager struggling with upper-90s heaters, especially when he crushes fastballs up in the zone. If you’re a fan of guys who will “hit it where they ain’t” and spray the ball around, you’re going to want to move on—Walcott loves pulling the ball, with a pull rate near 50% and a pull-air rate near 40%. The aforementioned launch angle discussion has to happen here. Walcott has had uncomfortable groundball rates for most of his career, and as I mentioned, nothing in his swing stands out as the cause. It’s likely a timing problem. His exit velocities also dip as his launch angles rise, though, and his top EV reads are almost all beat into the ground. It’s a challenge for the Rangers' development staff, and probably the hurdle for Walcott going from toolsy monster to undeniable monster. The launch profile concerns obviously seep into the power discussion, as it’s incredibly hard to unlock game power when you have an average launch angle of 8° and an average hard-hit launch angle of 5°. If you get this problem sorted—which is easier said than done—you’re looking at a floor of 20 homers with those exit velocities. Walcott hit a ball 115 mph in-game during spring training and hit a ball 113 mph in Double-A. This adds up pretty clearly to plus-plus pop when you factor in age and the fact that Walcott still has some muscle to add to his 6’4”, 190-pound build. The 107 mph 90th-percentile EV is also firmly 70-grade for his age, paired with the elite bat speed. I come out to a 70 on the power, though there was some teetering due to the game power still being locked away. Walcott is a clean fielder and a tremendous athlete. He may end up moving over to third base at some point, where his rocket arm should make it easy to be a decent fielder. I’ve got run times as low as around 4.2 seconds down the line—around 60-grade run times—though as he ages he will probably be more of a 55. It’s hard not to see the similarities between Walcott and teenage Fernando Tatis Jr. Both had freaky raw power and launch angle problems, which Tatis still has to this day. There’s similarity in the defensive profile as well, as Tatis was not expected to stick at shortstop his whole career. Walcott’s surface-level performance and deep toolshed give him a supernova ceiling, but how high he can soar all comes down to whether his batted balls can also soar higher. - Danny Barrand