Inside The Rangers

Texas Rangers First-Round Pick Malcolm Moore Excited By Wyatt Langford's Fast Track To Majors

The Stanford catcher who the Texas Rangers took with the No. 30 pick in the MLB Draft, turns 21 on July 31.

Stefan Stevenson

Stefan Stevenson/Texas Rangers on SI
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ARLINGTON — Malcolm Moore toured the Texas Rangers clubhouse, shook hands, met future teammates and took batting practice at Globe Life Field on Wednesday.

It was a whirlwind day for the Rangers' first-round draft pick, who signed for $3 million, slightly above the No. 30 slotted amount of $2.97 million.

"This place is awesome," Moore said. "It's brand new and I've never been in a facility like this. Hitting BP was unbelievable. It's great ballpark. The best one I've been to."

Moore, who grew up in Sacramento and attended Stanford, turns 21 on July 31. The Rangers first-rounder a year ago, Wyatt Langford, of course, made the rare jump to the big leagues in his first full professional season. Although Moore realizes the rarity of Langford's lightning quick ascent to the Majors, it fills him with a sense of possibilities.

Texas Rangers top 10 draft picks and their signing bonuses:

Round, Player, Position, Bonus
1, Malcolm Moore, C, $3 million
2, Dylan Dreiling, OF, $1,287,600
3, Casey Cook, OF, $700,000
4, David Hagaman, RHP, $515,000
5, Devin Fitz-Gerald, SS, $900,000
6, Garrett Horn, LHP, $250,000
7, Rafe Perich, 3B, $175,000
8, Anthony Susac, RHP, $200,000
9, Keith Jones II, OF, $30,000
10, Jake Jekielek, RHP, $20,000

"I just look at that and I'm super thankful that there's guys like that," he said. "Because it shows how good the competition is in college [baseball] and for a guy to move up that fast, it shows that it's not that hard to adapt. [Not that I'm] necessarily needing to do it that fast, but just showing that it's possible. It's awesome."

Moore saw Langford homer for Florida against his Virginia when he was a freshman for Stanford in the 2021 College World Series.


"He's a very impressive player and from what I've seen so far with Wyatt he's a great person," said Moore, who will report to the Arizona Complex League on Thursday. Moore said he no internal timeline on returning to Arlington for his MLB debut.

"I'm just looking forward to letting things happen a little bit and meeting everybody on the way," he said. "Obviously, I'm going to work my hardest to get here as soon as possible, but that's not the number one thing, it's about getting better each and every day."

For the past 36 hours or so, however, he has been getting a taste of the big leagues.

While taking batting practice with Rangers players Wednesday afternoon, Moore took a moment to look up in the stands and take it all in. A boyhood dream fulfilled.

"This is definitely where I dreamed to be," he said. "My dream is still to get here and looking forward to being on that journey."

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Stefan Stevenson
STEFAN STEVENSON

Stefan Stevenson worked as a journalist and editor at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for 25 years, covering sports, concerts, and general news. His beats have included the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas Rangers, and Texas Christian University football.

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