Ranger Ranch Prospect Weekly: Walcott Sizzles at Frisco, Kling Earns His Double-A Ticket
By Noah Patterson ·
Ranger Ranch Prospect Weekly covers the last 7 days of action for the Rangers farm system.
Walcott Keeps Dealing Damage at Double-A
Sebastian Walcott (AA, DH, Rank: 1) went 7-for-22 with two home runs and three RBI this week at Frisco, adding a walk and a hit-by-pitch in 22 plate appearances. It was another confident showing from a 20-year-old who has looked anything but overmatched since returning from elbow surgery. Over the last 30 days at Double-A, he is slashing .319/.415/.604 with six home runs, eight doubles, and a 12.3 percent walk rate across 22 games. The strikeout rate over that stretch sits at 22.6 percent, consistent with what has followed him throughout his Double-A tenure, but the damage production alongside it is hard to dismiss. The full 2026 line at Frisco reads .315/.395/.594 with nine home runs and 13 doubles through 35 games, a substantial step forward from the .255/.355/.386 he posted across 124 games here in 2025.
Walcott is a 60 athlete with a 55 power grade and an everyday shortstop projection, which means the pop was always supposed to show up; the conversation now is whether the hit tool can hold up against Double-A arms long enough for him to force a Triple-A look before the calendar turns. His contact rate at 70.3 percent over the last 30 days is not the carrying tool here, and breaking balls up and away still give him trouble, but the walk rate at 12.3 percent reflects a hitter who is not simply swinging his way through problems. The swing rate of 46.2 percent is right around league average, meaning the aggressiveness is calibrated. He is also running at a 23.5 percent strikeout rate on the season, actually an improvement over the 19.6 percent he posted last year in a significantly larger sample. The elbow is holding, the bat speed is there, and each week he keeps the line looking like this narrows the gap between Double-A and what comes next.
Kling Finishes Strong and Gets the Call to Frisco
Paxton Kling (A+, OF, Rank: 23) went 9-for-21 with two doubles, seven RBI, three walks, and a hit-by-pitch across his final week at High-A Hub City before earning a promotion to Double-A Frisco on September 9. The RBI total alone made it his best week of the season, and it came at the right moment. His full 2026 line at High-A reads .247/.386/.368 with seven home runs, 38 stolen bases, and a walk rate of 14.5 percent across 379 plate appearances. The batting average is modest, the contact rate of 66.3 percent is a genuine concern given a swing-and-miss exposure against quality secondary pitches, and the power grades as a 45. But the walk rate is legitimate, the speed grades a 60, and the profile of a fourth or fifth outfielder with defensive value in center and plus speed has held up across a full High-A season.
Kling's last 30 days at High-A capture the tension in his profile well. He posted a 17.0 percent walk rate over 112 plate appearances, which would play in any lineup, while the contact rate dipped to 69.4 percent and the swing rate fell to 39.4 percent, firmly in selective territory. He is working counts effectively and getting on base, but the lower-level strikeout exposure does not disappear just because the walk totals look good. At Double-A, he will face pitchers who can punish the swing-and-miss holes more consistently. His early Frisco line across eight plate appearances reads .429/.500/.571 with two stolen bases, a small sample but at least a clean one. I would not bet heavily against a guy with a 60 speed grade and a 14-plus percent walk rate finding a way to be useful even in a brief Double-A audition to close the year.
Davalillo Spins Five Strong Innings at Round Rock
David Davalillo (AAA, RHP, Rank: 7) worked five innings against 17 batters this week, allowing just one hit, no runs, and one walk while striking out six. He also generated eight swinging misses. For context, his Triple-A ERA on the season sits at 5.68 across 50.2 innings, so this was his best outing of the Round Rock stretch by a comfortable margin. Last year, Davalillo posted a 2.73 ERA across 56 innings at Double-A and a 2.12 ERA over 51 innings at High-A, so the Triple-A struggles in 2026 have been a real adjustment. His season walk rate at AAA is 11.6 percent and his last-30-day numbers show some stabilization: a 4.22 ERA over 21.1 innings with a walk rate of 5.7 percent and a strikeout rate of 21.8 percent. The walk rate improvement over the last month is the most encouraging data point.
Davalillo carries a 40 command grade and a 50 fastball that sits 94-96 mph, and his slider is graded at 50 as well. The changeup at 40 remains the piece that limits his ceiling, particularly against left-handed hitters. His projection is a depth starter or swingman rather than a rotation fixture, and the full Triple-A season bears that out with consistency issues from start to start. But the last month suggests some version of the command adjustment is taking hold. A 5.7 percent walk rate over five recent starts is a real number for a pitcher who has lived with elevated walk totals all season. If that carries forward, even in a limited sample, it is at least the right direction for a 23-year-old still working out the kinks of his first extended Triple-A run.
Quick Hits
- Winston Santos (AAA, RHP, Rank: 12) · worked six innings this week against 21 batters, allowing three hits, one earned run, no walks, and fanning five. It was a clean, efficient outing for a pitcher whose 5.72 ERA at Round Rock on the season has made it a difficult year. Over the last 30 days, he has a 4.76 ERA across 22.2 innings with a 28.3 percent strikeout rate and a 9.1 percent walk rate, showing the fastball/changeup combination can still miss bats in volume. Santos has a 55-grade changeup and sits 94-97 mph, and the arsenal remains starter-capable even if the results have not matched. His August-September stretch is the best run he has put together at Triple-A all year.
- Leandro Lopez (AA, RHP, Rank: 21) · threw 3.1 innings this week, allowing two hits and one earned run with two strikeouts and eight swinging misses on 48 pitches. The whiff total on a short outing is a good sign for a reliever whose best weapon is a 55-grade slider/cutter combination. His last-30-day numbers at Double-A tell the better story: a 3.45 ERA over 15.2 innings, with a 31.7 percent strikeout rate and a walk rate of just 4.8 percent. That is a sharp contrast to his full-season ERA of 5.96 at Frisco, and the recent command improvement is real. He is a setup reliever projection who has found a better groove late in the year.
- Deward Tovar (A, OF, Rank: 25) · went 4-for-14 with a double, a triple, and two RBI in 14 plate appearances this week at Hickory. The extra-base contact is consistent with a player who has posted 18 home runs on the season while driving in 78 runs through 109 games at Low-A. His last 30 days are genuinely eye-catching: a .574 slugging mark and a 14.8 percent walk rate across 81 plate appearances, though the strikeout rate sits at 30.9 percent and his contact rate of 65.2 percent remains the central tension. He is a 55 power grade with a 40 hit tool, and the power is showing up. The question is whether the swing-and-miss exposure gets exploited more severely as the pitching improves.
- Paulino Santana (A, OF, Rank: 19) · drew four walks and a hit-by-pitch alongside five hits in 18 plate appearances this week at Hickory. On the season he carries a 14.1 percent walk rate and has 15 home runs across 566 plate appearances. His last-30-day strikeout rate is 23.2 percent with a contact rate of 70.7 percent, both workable but not yet comfortable enough to project as carrying tools. He is a 50 hit, 50 power outfielder at 19 years old with a 55 speed grade, so the patient approach at least gives him a path to on-base value while the swing refines. The walk rate improvement from 8.2 percent last year to 14.1 percent this season is the clearest developmental signal in his profile.
- Dylan Dreiling (AA, OF, Rank: 9) · had a rough week, going 2-for-18 with no walks, no extra-base hits, and no RBI across 18 plate appearances at Frisco. After a blazing stretch over the prior month, a down week was bound to arrive. Over the last 30 days he is still slashing .372/.412/.606 with five home runs and 18 RBI, a contact rate of 85.9 percent, and a strikeout rate of just 14.7 percent. The full-season line at Double-A sits at .310/.379/.518 with 22 home runs. One poor week does not undo what has been a genuine breakout at this level; the 50 hit, 50 power profile with a 55 competitiveness grade is very much intact.
- Yolfran Castillo (A, SS, Rank: 8) · managed just one hit in 14 plate appearances this week, though he drew a walk and was hit twice. The contact simply was not there. His season line at Hickory reads .286/.390/.416 with eight home runs and 55 stolen bases across 119 games, and over the last 30 days he is posting a .313/.403/.469 line with a strikeout rate of only 11.5 percent. A 55 hit tool grade and an 82.6 percent contact rate on the season suggest one down week is noise rather than signal. He is a 19-year-old shortstop with plus field grades and advanced zone feel, and one week of cold results at Low-A does not shift that picture.
- Caden Scarborough (A+, RHP, Rank: 4) · was placed on the seven-day injured list at Hub City on September 4 with a right elbow strain. His last appearance before the placement came on August 21, and his final outing before the IL covered four innings with five earned runs allowed. The 2026 season line at High-A reads 48.1 innings with a 5.03 ERA, a 48/15 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and some volatility from start to start. He is the fourth-ranked prospect in the system, and any elbow-related news at his age warrants attention. No timeline has been specified beyond the initial seven-day designation.