Rangers draft 'elite' high school standout Fien at No. 12 overall

The Rangers haven’t selected a high school player in the first round of the MLB Draft since 2018.

That changed on Sunday night, when Texas selected Gavin Fien, a shortstop out of Great Oak (Calif.) high school, with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. Fien was committed to the University of Texas.

“There's a lot of good players in this Draft,” said Rangers director of amateur scouting Kip Fagg. “Picking 12, you have access to some really good ones. Through extensive work with our staff, we felt very comfortable with Gavin versus most of these players in this Draft. We were excited to be able to access a player of this caliber.”

Fien, MLB Pipeline’s No. 22 Draft prospect, is coming off a stellar summer of 2024 that put the California prep standout among the top high school hitters in this year’s Draft class. He hit .400 for Team USA in the 18-and-under World Cup qualifier in Panama, then had two hits and two RBIs in the 2024 MLB High School All-American Game to win the MLB Develops MVP Award.

“I think my bat is kind of my carrying tool,” Fien said via Zoom. “I have a lot of confidence in it. I feel like there's a lot of development even on top of that to really take certain strides and succeed. I think I have just a power type of profile with some athleticism.”

Fagg said he and the Rangers staff met with Fien multiple times, including at the MLB Draft Combine and again at his home in Temecula, Calif. Throughout the process, Texas was impressed with the makeup of the 18-year-old, on top of the talent that already made him a first-rounder.

Fien took to the organization just as much as they took to him, calling it a “surreal moment” to be drafted by the Rangers.

“We have extensive history with Gavin, our whole staff,” Fagg said. “He’s a Team USA player, one of the better performers on the summer circuit, and I think this guy's a plus-power, plus-hit player. We’re excited about the offensive potential and the defensive player. …He was up there with the elite guys in this Draft, for me and our group. We thought we got one of the better bats in this Draft.”

Fien hit .358 with five home runs, one triple, six doubles, 16 RBIs and more walks (11) than strikeouts (9) in 30 games as a senior for Great Oak this spring. Over four varsity seasons with the Wolfpack from 2022-25, he slashed .378/.451/.633 (1.084) across 91 games.

Fien is now the highest Draft selection in Great Oak school history and joins his brother, Dylan, among the 11 players drafted from the program. Dylan was selected in the 7th round of the 2024 MLB Draft by the Athletics.

The 6-foot-3 right-handed slugger’s swing consistently produces line drives, with evaluators projecting more power to come. Fien hit five homers as a senior for Great Oak this spring after slugging three in each of his past two seasons. Despite the improved power, he took a bit of a step back statistically in 2025, batting .358 as a senior after hitting .410 as a sophomore and .411 as a junior. Known for his unorthodox setup at the plate with high hands, Fien tended to struggle finding his rhythm at the plate this spring and was often late in pulling the trigger.

It’s a concern for a player whose five tools all project as average or better, according to MLB Pipeline. Fien’s throwing arm, which received a plus grade of 55 on the 20-80 scale, is his best attribute. His arm is good enough for him to stick at third base, although he could end up at first base or in a corner-outfield spot.

Though many scouts project him at any of the four corners of the field, Fagg emphasized that the organization sees him as a shortstop.

“He’s a good defender,” Fagg said. “I think one thing we do really well as a Minor League system is make guys better defenders and get them to their highest level. I trust our guys. We're going to put this guy at shortstop and see what happens. I'm not going to put any restraints on this guy.”

While his added strength has allowed him to run better, speed will never be a major part of Fien’s game. Fien asserts that he believes he can stick at shortstop, as well, even pointing towards Rangers shortstop Corey Seager as a similar type of player in size and stature.

“He's a good all-around player,” Fagg said. “We like the bat, we like the defense. There is power here. He's got elite exit velos and has shown power throughout his high school career. We like the hit tool, also. It's a clean swing, he uses the field and with impact. We're excited about this bat.”

Here is a look at the other picks the Rangers made on Day 1 of the Draft:

Round 2:

AJ Russell, RHP

• Bats/throws: R/R
• School: University of Tennessee
• Calling Card: As a reliever in 2023, Russell posted an 0.89 ERA, .095 opponents' average and a 47/7 K/BB ratio in 30 1/3 innings. Then, when he was slated to enter Tennessee’s weekend rotation in 2024, he had an internal brace surgery and pitched limited innings the rest of his college career. If healthy, he'd likely have gone in the top half of the first round. He has the upside of being a frontline starter and the stuff to close games if he can't handle a rotation workload.
• Quote: “He’s a big, physical kid who's got plus stuff. Strikes are good. We see the upside of this kid. We saw him a year ago. He threw a game in our stadium and in one of those early tournaments, and man, if you drafted him that year, he was going to be a top five pick. Then obviously he [got] hurt and was working his way back this year and had limited action. We know that he's going to get back to what he was before. We're gonna have a top five pick even though we ended up getting him a little lower in the Draft, obviously.” -- Fagg

Round 3:

Josh Owens, two-way player -- RHP/SS/OF

• Bats/throws: L/R
• School: Providence Academy (Tenn.)
• Calling Card: Owens pitched two games and also played some left field for the U.S. national team that earned a gold medal at the 18-and-under World Cup qualifier in Panama last August. He’s projectable on the mound, but the Rangers view him as a legitimate two-way threat
• Quote: “We have a plan in place that we're going to continue to work on and evolve for him. The understanding is that he's going to come in and have the opportunity to perform as a two-way player early in his career with us. … It's a unique opportunity for us to take on. We’ve gone through some of this in the past with different players, and now to have this opportunity with players in our organization, in our system, we see it as an opportunity for us to craft the plan and ultimately develop them on both sides of the ball.” -- General manager Ross Fenstermaker