In the first round of Major League Baseball’s amateur draft Sunday night, the Texas Rangers selected a catcher, Malcolm Moore, of Stanford University.

Moore was considered one of the best high school hitters in the 2022 draft, but chose to play college baseball at Stanford University.  The scouting report on Moore says at the plate he makes hard contact to all fields with raw power.  Evidence of that was 15 home runs in his Freshman year at Stanford.  Moore is considered an average defensive catcher, but was drafted for his bat, and could be moved to another position, such as first base.  He is 6′-2″ tall and weighs 216 pounds.  Moore bats left and throws right.

The Rangers took Moore with the last pick of the first round, pick #30.  Two picks earlier at #28 the Houston Astros also selected a catcher, Walker Janek, of Sam Houston State University.  Coming out of high school Janek received little interest from professional or major college scouts.  He then chose to play college baseball at Sam Houston State, which does have a good baseball program.  Over three years he developed into the top-rated catching prospect in this year’s draft.  This year he received the Buster Posey Award as the best catcher in college baseball.  The scouting report on Janek says he has impressive bat speed and power.  He is not a fast runner, but can steal bases.  He was named the Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year 2024.  Janek is said to be agile behind the plate, good at framing pitches, and good at picking off runners because of his arm strength and quick release.  Janek is 6′ 0″ tall, weighs 190 pounds, bats and throws right.

Below are the rest of the Rangers and Astros draft picks through Round 10.  Rounds 11 through 20 will take place on Wednesday.

RANGERS

Round 2:  Dylan Dreiling, OF, University of Tennessee

Round 3:  Casey Cook, OF, University of North Carolina

Round 4:  David Hagaman, P, University of West Virginia

Round 5: Devin FitzGerald, SS, Stoneman-Douglas High School, Florida

Round 6:  Garrett Horn, P, Liberty University

Round 7:  Rafe Perich, 3B, Lehigh University

Round 8:  Anthony Susac, P, University of Arizona

Round 9:  Keith Jones II, OF, New Mexico State

Round 10:  Jake Jekielek, P, Northwood University

 

ASTROS

Round 2:  No Pick

Round 3:  Ryan Forcucci, P, University of California – San Diego

Round 4:  Parker Smith, P, Rice University

Round 5:  Cole Hertzler, P, Liberty University

Round 6:  Caden Powell, SS, Seminole State University (Oklahoma)

Round 7:  Joseph Sullivan, OF, University of South Alabama

Round 8:  Dylan Howard, P, Radford University

Round 9:  Ryan Smith, P, University of Illinois – Chicago

Round 10:  Ramsey David, P, Southeastern University of Florida