Moore is just the fourth catcher ever selected by the Rangers in the first round
Fort Worth, Texas — The Texas Rangers tonight selected catcher Malcolm Moore with the 30th overall pick and outfielder Dylan Dreiling at 65th overall on the first day of the 2024 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
The 20-year-old Moore played two seasons at Stanford University and was rated among the top prospects in this year’s draft class by FanGraphs (no. 18), MLB Pipeline (no. 26), and Baseball America (no. 31). He posted a lifetime .288/.399./.560/.958 (128-445) slash line, 31 home runs, 28 doubles, and 99 RBI across 118 games for the Cardinal in his collegiate career, earning Pac-12 All-Conference honorable mention honors in both years.
As a sophomore in 2024, the left-handed batter slashed .255/.414/.553/.967 (48-188) with a team-leading 16 home runs and 36 RBI while working more walks (44) than strikeouts (35) over 54 contests. He finished the campaign ranked among Pac-12 Conference leaders in walks (3rd), home runs (T6th), and OPS (13th), and threw out 22 of 51 (43.1%) attempted base stealers over a team-leading 50 starts behind the plate.
The Sacramento, Calif. native is just the fourth first-round catcher ever selected by the Rangers, joining Kellin Deglan (22nd overall, 2010), Scott Heard (25th, 2000), and Bill Haselman (23rd, 1987). He is also just the third player from Stanford University to be selected in the first round by Texas: OF John Mayberry (2005) and Rick Helling (1992).
The 21-year-old Dreiling played two seasons at the University of Tennessee and was rated among the top prospects in this year’s draft class by MLB Pipeline (no. 72), Baseball America (no. 73), and Fangraphs (no. 83). He posted a career .328/.452/.689/1.141 (112-341) slash line with 30 home runs, 4 triples, 25 doubles, and 95 RBI in 121 collegiate games for the Volunteers.
During his sophomore 2024 campaign, Dreiling slashed .341/.459/.715/1.174 (84-246) with 23 home runs, 2 triples, 19 doubles, and 75 RBI, including a 13-for-24 (.542) performance with 3 home runs, one double, and 11 RBI over 6 games during the College World Series. His CWS performance netted him Most Outstanding Player honors for the tournament, helping Tennessee defeat Texas A&M in the tournament final, two games-to-one.
Texas’ first-round selection was announced tonight by Rangers Youth Academy member Luis Amador, who has been enrolled in the club’s youth baseball development program since 2020 while attending South Grand Prairie High School. This fall, he will continue his education and playing career at Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville, Okla.
The 2024 Major League Baseball Draft continues on Monday, July 15 at 1:00 p.m. CT with rounds 3-10 and concludes on Tuesday, July 16, with rounds 11-20 beginning at 1:00 p.m. CT. Texas will have the 30th pick in each of Rounds 3-20, all of which will take place at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington but are not open to the public. MLB.com will provide live coverage of selections made on Monday and Tuesday.
