At age 19, top prospect Walcott mature beyond his years

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- In the middle of the Rangers¡¯ clubhouse at Surprise Stadium sat two lockers side by side.

In one locker sat Marcus Semien, the three-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger and 2021 Gold Glove Award-winning infielder. In the other was 19-year-old Sebastian Walcott, almost five inches taller than Texas¡¯ unofficial captain and following his every example.

That was no mistake.

Before headlining the Rangers¡¯ Spring Breakout club on Saturday, Walcott -- Texas¡¯ No. 1 prospect, per MLB Pipeline -- spent three weeks on the opposite side of the Surprise Recreation Complex with the big league club.

Semien is exactly the type of player and leader Rangers brass see Walcott becoming one day. If all goes well, it¡¯ll be one day soon.

¡°Being with Marcus, he just shows such consistency with everything he does,¡± Walcott said with a smile. ¡°He wakes up, he gets to the field at a certain time. He's always in the gym first. I think that shows how dedicated he is to the game. I¡¯m learning that from him. He plays 162 games almost every year. I definitely want to be a player who plays every game, every year. I want to try to give the Rangers the best chance to win. Marcus does a good job leading by example for everybody.¡±

Walcott signed for $3.2 million out of the Bahamas in January 2023. He was one of the best players of that international class and has only gotten better since making his stateside debut later that summer. Walcott is now the No. 17 overall prospect in baseball, per Pipeline. He has the potential to be a top-five prospect in baseball come this time next year.

¡°I think it's very exciting what he's done,¡± said Rangers general manager Ross Fenstermaker, who has overseen player development the last three seasons. ¡°Every challenge we seem to put in front of him -- Major League camp is just the most recent one -- he seems to handle himself extremely well. We pushed him pretty aggressively last year, and he kept checking all the boxes. For somebody who [just turned 19], it's just incredible to see his talent and his maturity. He's got a very bright future, and we're excited about it.¡±

Though Walcott struggled early in 2024, he finished the year with a .265/.344/.452 slash line between High-A Hickory (116 games) and Double-A Frisco (five games). He earned South Atlantic League All-Star honors, leading the circuit in triples (nine), extra-base hits (50) and total bases (192) as its youngest regular at age 18.

¡°It was more mental and physical,¡± Walcott said of his early struggles. ¡°Looking back at the beginning of the season, my swing was fine, but my mental approach going to the plate was completely different to what it was in the second half of the year. I like staying loose, not really thinking so much about what the result is going to be, and having an open mind to everything. That's what changed me. I came to Spring Training with the same mindset. I¡¯m not trying to do everything all at once. I¡¯m just letting the game come to me.¡±

Walcott will likely start 2025 back in Frisco, though he¡¯s clearly zooming through the Rangers¡¯ farm.

He¡¯s been compared to Elvis Andrus -- Texas¡¯ longtime shortstop who debuted as a 20-year-old in 2009 -- more due to the speed with which they both moved through the system than their play styles. Andrus reached Double-A one year later than Walcott at 19 and didn¡¯t even play in Triple-A.

"I see [Walcott], it's just hard to believe that he's just 18 years old,¡± said president of baseball operations Chris Young. ¡°I was a high school senior [at that age]. The growth he's made in a year, the strides he's taken, it's so impressive to see. It's not normal.

¡°You don't see 18-year-olds have that ability to perform at this level like he has, and make the progress that he's made, with his aptitude and his willingness to learn. It's just so impressive. The sky's the limit for him. [He's] just a great player who continues to get better. He's got the physical skill set and also the mental approach as well, which is going to help him realize his full potential.¡±

At 6-foot-4 and 190 pounds, Walcott¡¯s physical tools and talents are obvious. They manifest in elite bat speeds and exit velocities that rival those of players 10 years older than him.

But it¡¯s Walcott¡¯s maturity and intelligence that will ultimately make him one of baseball¡¯s golden prospects.

¡°We started the process so early, so we got glimpses of that maturity,¡± Fenstermaker said. ¡°One of the things our scouts spend a lot of time on is the family dynamic and the background. It was really impressive to watch his family and meet his parents and observe the way that he was raised and the way that he has handled himself in a lot of different and challenging situations. He¡¯s had to deal with some adversity in his life, and handled it with such impeccable poise. He's an impressive young man.¡±

Make no mistake, Semien and his big league teammates are the present. They won the World Series in 2023 and are looking to rebound again in 2025.

But wherever Walcott ends up this season -- with the big league club or not -- he is the future of the Rangers.

¡°This is a great organization,¡± Walcott said. ¡°This organization is all about winning, and they're all about bringing in the best players for this organization. We live by the three core values: dominating the fundamentals, being a good teammate and competing with passion. I think everybody in the big league clubhouse covers all three. That's what we bring to the Texas Rangers. That's what we bring to be like an electrifying team that dominates those three core values. And I feel like this team's going to win championships for years to come.¡±