Malcolm Moore's first season in the Texas Rangers system

Dylan Grausz | Sep 14, 2024

Jul 24, 2024; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers first round draft pick Malcolm Moore throws out the first pitch before the game against the Chicago White Sox at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

It is September which means that baseball season is approaching the home stretch as teams fight for playoff spots. As the MLB season nears the end of its regular season, the minor league baseball campaign has come to a close at some levels, particularly at the lower levels, where many rookies who were drafted in the 2024 MLB Draft have officially completed their first taste of games as professional baseball players.

One of those players is former Stanford catcher Malcolm Moore, who has shown great promise since getting drafted by the Texas Rangers in the first round of this year's Draft, going No. 30 overall.

Moore finished his first season as a pro with the Hickory Crawdads, the High-A affiliate for Texas, and ended the campaign with a .209 average, three home runs and 12 RBIs in 91 at-bats, also having a .298 on-base percentage and a .672 OPS. 

Hitting only .162 in 68 August at-bats, Moore saw a massive resurgence in September, hitting .348 for the month while recording a hit in five out of the team’s last six games of the year. His best game of the month came on September 5, when he went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs, despite the Crawdads losing 4-3 to the Rome Emperors.

In two years playing for Stanford, Moore ended his tenure batting .288 with 31 home runs and 99 RBIs, putting together his best season in 2023 where he hit .311 with 15 home runs and 63 RBIs and helped guide the Cardinal all the way to the College World Series, where losses to both Wake Forest and Tennessee eliminated them in the first round. In his final season with Stanford in 2024, Moore hit .255 with 16 home runs and 36 RBIs and evolved even further into becoming a highly touted prospect for the MLB draft.

With Jonah Heim under team control through the 2026 season as the starting catcher in Arlington, it may take a while before we see Moore in the Major Leagues. Yet, he's already ranked as the No. 5 prospect in the Rangers’ organization on MLB Pipeline, his talent is evident. If he is able to fully reach that potential, it will be hard to keep him down in the minor leagues for long.