Texas Rangers Breakout MLB Prospects Entering 2024
Entering 2024, we’re examining multiple Rangers prospects on the verge of a breakout season. To qualify as a breakout prospect for this exercise, a player must rank outside the Top 10 Prospects in his organization entering the year.
You can find all of our preseason prospect rankings here and a link to breakouts for all 30 teams here.
Rangers Top Prospects In 2024
We rank the top players in Texas’ system entering the season complete with new scouting reports, tools, grades & more.
Breakout Prospects
Aidan Curry, RHP
Preseason rank: 13
BA Grade: 50. Risk: High.
TRACK RECORD: As if their haul in the 2020 draft weren’t enough, the Rangers also cleaned up on undrafted free agents. One of their biggest coups was Curry, a tall righthander from a New York high school. Curry got a cameo at Low-A in 2022, then returned to the level in 2023 for most of the season. He was one of six Rangers prospects to strike out more than 100 hitters last season.
SCOUTING REPORT: Curry’s size and age made him an upside play, and in 2023 he began to scratch the surface of that potential by becoming more in sync with his upper and lower halves. His stuff is plenty good, too. Curry works primarily with two pitches: A low-90s fastball and a low-80s slider. The former has excellent shape, with roughly 18 inches of induced vertical break and a spin rate around 2,400 rpm. The slider is a slicing, downer breaking ball that got Low-A hitters to swing and miss at a rate of 46%. He mixes in a cutter around 89 mph and a changeup in the mid 80s that scouts believe could have average potential once he begins throwing it more often. Curry could get to average control as he gains further coordination and strength, and evaluators noted that his fastball command winnowed at the upper end of its velocity.
THE FUTURE: Curry ended the season at High-A Hickory and will return there in 2024. His upside lies in his projection, and the top of his ceiling could see him slot in toward the back of a rotation.
Scouting Grades
Fastball: 60. Slider: 60. Changeup: 50. Cutter: 50. Control: 50.
Emiliano Teodo, RHP
Preseason rank: 14
BA Grade: 50. Risk: High.
TRACK RECORD: Teodo is a strong-armed righthander who signed for a five-figure bonus and spent his first pro season as a reliever in the Arizona Complex League. He moved into a starter’s role in 2022, and has been part of the rotation at both Class A levels over the past two seasons. Teodo missed time in 2023 with a forearm injury, then made up the innings with a dominant stint in the Arizona Fall League.
SCOUTING REPORT: The story of Teodo’s season can be told in two parts. In the beginning, his four-seam fastball played way down from its upper-90s velocity and was ineffective at missing bats. Once Teodo switched to a two-seamer, his season swung. Teodo made the switch on July 16, and from that point on he struck out 57 and walked just 18 over the season’s final 37.2 innings. He was even more overpowering in the AFL, where he allowed three hits and struck out 18 hitters over 11 frames. Teodo backs the fastball with a nasty curveball in the mid 80s whose break and velocity makes it appear like a slider. The pitch’s shape is inconsistent, and the Rangers have worked with him to improve in that area. When he threw the four-seamer, he would often alter his tempo in an effort to coax the ball into the strike zone. By changing to the two-seamer, Teodo could aim down the middle and allow the combination of movement and velocity to bedevil hitters. He is not likely to have better than below-average control and command.
THE FUTURE: Teodo might get a few more cracks at starting, but he’s a near-certain reliever. If it all clicks, he could be a force at the back of the bullpen.
Scouting Grades
Fastball: 70. Curveball: 60. Control: 40.
Izack Tiger, RHP
Preseason rank: 20
BA Grade: 50. Risk: Extreme.
TRACK RECORD: The Rangers have not been shy about hunting for upside in the draft, and Tiger is one of their latest projects. The righthander spent three seasons at Butler (KS) JC, where he caught the eye of area scout Dustin Smith, whose intrigue was piqued further by Tiger’s short stint in the Cape Cod League in 2022. In his draft season, Tiger whiffed 121 hitters against just 29 walks in 84.2 innings. Texas took Tiger in the seventh round in 2023 and sent him for a quick stint in the Arizona Complex League before he moved to Low-A for the playoffs, where he struck out six hitters over three hitless frames.
SCOUTING REPORT: Tiger works mostly with three pitches: a mid-90s fastball, a hard-diving slider in the high-80s and a splitter that serves as his changeup. The righthander used to throw a circle changeup but the Rangers believed his delivery—with its overhand stroke—was better suited for a splitter. The fastball played up in relief and touched 100 mph in the playoffs. He’s also utilized a low-90s cutter that grades out as fringe-average. Tiger is an above-average mover on the mound and has the arm action and delivery to give him the upside of a starter if he can add the requisite polish. He has fringe-average control.
THE FUTURE: Tiger is likely to spend 2024 at the Class A levels, where he will work toward a ceiling in the rotation with the fallback option of a weapon out of the bullpen.
Scouting Grades
Fastball: 60. Slider: 60. Cutter: 45. Splitter: 55. Control: 45.
