DALLAS -- Just two years ago, the Rangers struck gold at the MLB Draft Lottery when they moved up from seventh to the No. 4 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. That pick was used to select Wyatt Langford, who is already a mainstay with the big league club.
But in 2024, Texas was unable to recreate that same luck.
At this year’s Draft Lottery at the annual Winter Meetings in Dallas, the Rangers landed the 12th pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. They had a 2.45% chance to get the No. 1 overall pick, but they dropped from eighth to 12th in the Lottery.
Former Rangers second baseman and current special assistant to the general manager Ian Kinsler was the club’s representative for the Lottery. He was selected by the Rangers in the 17th round of the 2003 MLB Draft.
The Nationals landed the No. 1 pick in the Lottery, while the Rangers’ AL West rival Angels landed at No. 2. The top six picks are listed below, with numbers in parentheses denoting where the teams ranked in the lottery odds and their odds of winning the top overall pick:
- Nationals (4, 10.20%)
- Angels (3, 17.96%)
- Mariners (15, 0.53%)
- Rockies (T-1, 22.45%)
- Cardinals (13, 0.82%)
- Pirates (6, 5.31%)
According to MLB Pipeline, the No. 12 Draft prospect in next summer’s class is Billy Carlson, a high school shortstop and right-handed pitcher out of Corona High School in Corona, Calif.
The Rangers have made three selections with the No. 12 pick in club history: Billy Simpson (1976), Oddibe McDowell (1984) and Kasey Kiker (2006).