Texas Rangers Top 30 Prospect Earns Carolina League Player of Week Honors

Down East Wood Ducks infielder Echedry Vargas, 19, batted .407 with three home runs, four doubles, and seven RBI in six games last week.

Apr 16, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Texas Rangers cap sits in dugout in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. / Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

A Texas Rangers Top 30 prospect with more development to do showed why the organization is so high on him joining the Majors one day.

Infielder Echedry Vargas was named the Carolina League Player of the Week for July 29-Aug. 4 after his performance with the Down East Wood Ducks, the Rangers’ Class A affiliate.

With the Wood Ducks last week against Augusta, The 19-year-old batted .407 with three home runs, four doubles, and seven RBI in six games last week, hitting safely in all six games and recording multiple hits in five of those contests.

With his week, Vargas boosted his slash line for the season, as he’s batting .274/.325/.466/.791 with 12 home runs, two triples, 16 doubles, and 38 RBI in 72 games, all with the Wood Ducks.

He is among the Carolina League’s leaders in four categories — slugging percentage (third), total bases (tied for fifth, 136), home runs (tied for sixth), and OPS (10th).

Vargas is the Rangers’ No. 18 prospect. The infielder is projected to reach the Majors in 2027, per MLB Pipeline. Only four Top 30 Rangers prospects are younger than him, including the team’s No. 1 prospect, 18-year-old Sebastian Walcott.

The Rangers signed him in January of 2022 as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic.

He showed plenty of promise in his first pro season in the Dominican Summer League, as he slashed .301/.368/.510/.878 with four home runs and 27 RBI in 54 games in 2022.

That earned him a trip stateside for the 2023 season, which he played 52 games for the Arizona Complex League Rangers and one for Down East. He combined to slash .317/.388/.568/.956 with 11 home runs and 39 RBI.

This is his first year with a full-season affiliate and he has already set a new single-season high for home runs and should pass his single-season high for RBI soon.

The Wood Ducks are getting ready to start a week-long series at home against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, the Chicago Cubs’ Class A affiliate on Tuesday.