It was just over 500 days ago that the Texas Rangers won the World Series and they still have plenty of top talent as they hope to get back there this season.
CBS Sports‘ Dayn Parry recently released the latest version of their Top 100 MLB player rankings. The Rangers had three players on there, which is the same amount they had on last year’s team, though there was a swap made.
Right fielder Adolis Garcia just barely made the cut last year, but wasn’t included this time around after a poor 2024 campaign. These are the three Texas players that did get named to this season’s list:
Like Garcia, Semien is coming off of a down year. The veteran second baseman posted just a .237/.308/.391 slash line. It was among the worst seasons of his career.
The 34-year-old still had at least a 100 OPS+ and has earned a benefit of doubt, so it makes sense that he was still included this time. He did suffer a stiff drop from No. 29 a year ago.
Semien’s struggles have continued into spring training, but there is still plenty of hope that he can provide a solid season. At worst, he is still one of the best defenders at his position.
Making his debut in the Top 100 is the sensational Langford. He is coming off of a stellar debut campaign and the hope in putting him all the way at 31 is that he will take another step this season.
In his rookie campaign, he delivered on the five-tool promise. He was at least solid at everything.
The 23-year-old has also been red hot this spring with a .450/.522/.700 slash line in 23 plate appearances. He has also drawn three walks to four strikeouts.
Seager actually jumped up four spots from last year, despite his uneven campaign hurt by a pair of injuries.
He finished strong with a .294/.349/.575 slash line in the second half with 12 home runs. That dominant stretch didn’t result in the season turning around for the Rangers, but it certainly didn’t hurt.
Despite his injury issues, he is one of the best hitters in the sport and absolutely deserves to be ranked this highly.
If Texas can get an MVP-candidate season out of him, they’ll be in great shape. Keeping Seager and pitcher Jacob deGrom healthy could make them contenders once again.