Texas Rangers 2024 MLB Draft Review

Draft Theme: College hitters with advanced approaches

Scouts have praised C Malcolm Moore’s hitting ability and power upside since his high school days, and despite a down spring season in terms of results, he continues to draw praise for his all-fields approach and ability to put the bat on the baseball. After taking Moore at the back of the first round, the Rangers grabbed OF Dylan Dreiling, who can get pull happy at times but has always shown a savvy batting eye and good walk rates, and OF Casey Cook, who has fringy tools across the board but a clean lefthanded swing and consistently takes professional at-bats. All three players have a chance for above-average hit tools with varying degrees of impact. Later on day two, the Rangers picked 3B Rafe Perich, who was a data darling this spring and showed a strong blend of contact, power and swing decisions.  

Most Interesting Day 2 Pick: OF Casey Cook

Cook played in only four games during his 2022 freshman season with North Carolina before a shoulder injury ended the rest of his campaign. Once he got healthy and on the field everyday, the 6-foot, 195-pound lefthanded-hitting outfielder proved to be the most advanced pure hitter on a strong offensive Tar Heels club. Cook hit well over .300 in both of his first full season, then jumped from three homers in 2023 to 18 homers in 2024 and is a career .324/.425/.508 hitter with a 17.4% strikeout rate and 11.9% walk rate. In some ways he’s the antithesis of teammate and likely first-rounder Vance Honeycutt. Where Honeycutt has huge physical tools and pure hitting questions, Cook has more solid-average or fringy tools but an extremely advanced hitting approach and consistent lefty swing. He sees the ball well out of the hand, makes a lot of contact and doesn’t chase too frequently, though changeups and curveballs gave him a bit of trouble at times this spring. Cook has fine raw power, but certainly took advantage of Chapel Hill’s lefty-friendly home park. He will need to be an above-average hitter to drive value because he’s likely not fast enough for center field and will need to play either left or right—with left being his most likely spot. Cook’s carrying tool is the most important one, but his upside is more limited and he’ll go as far as his pure hitting ability takes him.

Most Interesting Day 3 Pick: LHP Cade Obermueller, 19th round

Obermueller was part of one of the most talented rotations in the country in 2024 at Iowa, alongside righthanders Brody Brecht and Marcus Morgan. After pitching out of the bullpen for Iowa in 2023 and pitching as a reliever in the Cape Cod League, he moved into a starting role and posted a 3.92 ERA over 59.2 innings and 13 starts with a 27.1% strikeout rate and 15.2% walk rate. A small and skinny lefthander with a 5-foot-11, 160-pound frame and sidearm slot, Obermueller primarily works off a two-pitch fastball/slider combo. He sits in the low 90s and gets up to 95 with a fastball that has sinking shape and has traditionally been a heavy groundball offering for him—though his groundball rate fell significantly from 2023 to 2024—and pairs the fastball with a 78-82 mph sweeping slider. Because of Obermueller’s low slot the slider is effective in left-on-left matchups where it generated a 45% miss rate this spring, though it’s less of a swing-and-miss offering against righthanders. Against righties, Obermueller’s low-80s changeup will become a much more critical piece of his arsenal, though he threw the pitch only 10% of the time and needs to gain more feel for it. Obermueller’s below-average control might ultimately push him back to the bullpen in pro ball.