# List of Texas Rangers first-round draft picks

The Texas Rangers are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. They play in the American League West division. Before 1972 (and for the first seven years of the draft), they were known as the Washington Senators and based in Washington, D.C. Since the institution of MLB's Rule 4 Draft, the Rangers franchise has selected 68 players in the first round. Officially known as the "First-Year Player Draft", the Rule 4 Draft is MLB's primary mechanism for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings, with the team possessing the worst record receiving the first pick. In addition, teams which lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded compensatory or supplementary picks.
Of the 71 players picked in the first round by Washington or Texas, 37 have been pitchers, the most of any position; 27 of these were right-handed, while 10 were left-handed. Twelve outfielders, nine third basemen, six shortstops, four catchers, two first basemen, and one second baseman were also taken. Fourteen of the players came from high schools or colleges in the state of Texas, and California follows with ten players. The Rangers have drafted one player, Tanner Scheppers in 2009, who was playing in the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball at the time of the draft. Scheppers was originally drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 29th round of the 2005 MLB Draft, and by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the second round of the 2008 MLB Draft.
With the Exception of Josh Jung, none of the Rangers' first-round picks have won a World Series championship with the team. Also, no pick has been elected to the Hall of Fame. None of these picks have won the MLB Rookie of the Year award, although Oddibe McDowell (1984) placed fourth in the voting in 1985, and Josh Jung placed fourth in the voting in 2023. The Rangers had the first overall selection twice in the draft, which they used on Jeff Burroughs (1969) and David Clyde (1973). Clyde made his debut for the Rangers 20 days after he pitched his high school team to the state finals in the franchise's first sellout at Arlington Stadium.
The Rangers have made 19 selections in the supplemental round of the draft and 26 compensatory picks since the institution of the First-Year Player Draft in 1965. These additional picks are provided when a team loses a particularly valuable free agent in the previous off-season, or, more recently, if a team fails to sign a draft pick from the previous year. The Rangers have failed to sign one of their first-round picks, Matt Purke (2009), and received the 15th pick in 2010 as compensation.

## Key

| Year | Each year links to an article about that year's Major League Baseball draft. |
| Position | Indicates the secondary/collegiate position at which the player was drafted, rather than the professional position the player may have gone on to play |
| Pick | Indicates the number of the pick |
| * | Player did not sign with the Rangers |
| § | Indicates a supplemental pick |

## Picks

| Year | Name | Position | School (location) | Pick |
| 1965 | Joe Coleman | Right-handed pitcher | Natick High School (Natick, Massachusetts) | 3 |
| 1966 | Tom Grieve | Outfielder | Pittsfield High School (Pittsfield, Massachusetts) | 6 |
| 1967 | John Jones | Catcher | Loretto High School (St. Joseph, Tennessee) | 5 |
| 1968 | Don Castle | Left-handed pitcher | Coldwater High School (Coldwater, Mississippi) | 8 |
| 1969 | Jeff Burroughs | Outfielder | Wilson Classical High School (Long Beach, California) | 1 |
| 1970 | Charles Maxwell | Third baseman | Zane Trace High School (Chillicothe, Ohio) | 14 |
| 1971 | Roger Quiroga | Right-handed pitcher | Ball High School (Galveston, Texas) | 4 |
| 1972 | Roy Howell | Third baseman | Lompoc High School (Lompoc, California) | 7 |
| 1973 | David Clyde | Left-handed pitcher | Westchester High School (Houston, Texas) | 1 |
| 1974 | Tommy Boggs | Right-handed pitcher | Lanier High School (Austin, Texas) | 2 |
| 1975 | Jim Gideon | Right-handed pitcher | University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas) | 17 |
| 1976 | Billy Simpson | Outfielder | Lakewood High School (Lakewood, California) | 12 |
| 1977 | David Hibner | Shortstop | Howell High School (Howell, Michigan) | 9 |
| 1978 | No first-round pick | No first-round pick | No first-round pick | No first-round pick |
| 1979 | Jerry Don Gleaton | Left-handed pitcher | University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas) | 17 |
| 1980 | Tim Maki | Right-handed pitcher | Carroll High School (Huntertown, Indiana) | 14 |
| 1981 | Ron Darling | Right-handed pitcher | Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut) | 9 |
| 1981 | Al Lachowicz | Right-handed pitcher | University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) | 24 |
| 1982 | No first-round pick | No first-round pick | No first-round pick | No first-round pick |
| 1983 | Jeff Kunkel | Shortstop | Rider University (Lawrenceville, New Jersey) | 3 |
| 1984 | Oddibe McDowell | Outfielder | Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) | 12 |
| 1985 | Bobby Witt | Right-handed pitcher | University of Oklahoma (Norman, Oklahoma) | 3 |
| 1986 | Kevin Brown | Right-handed pitcher | Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia) | 4 |
| 1987 | Brian Bohanon | Left-handed pitcher | North Shore High School (Houston, Texas) | 19 |
| 1987 | Bill Haselman | Catcher | University of California, Los Angeles (Los Angeles, California) | 23 |
| 1987 | Mark Petkovsek | Right-handed pitcher | University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas) | 29§ |
| 1988 | Monty Fariss | Shortstop | Oklahoma State University–Stillwater (Stillwater, Oklahoma) | 6 |
| 1989 | Donald Harris | Outfielder | Texas Tech University (Lubbock, Texas) | 5 |
| 1990 | Dan Smith | Left-handed pitcher | Creighton University (Omaha, Nebraska) | 16 |
| 1991 | Benji Gil | Shortstop | Castle Park High School (Chula Vista, California) | 19 |
| 1992 | Rick Helling | Right-handed pitcher | Stanford University (Stanford, California) | 22 |
| 1993 | Mike Bell | Third baseman | Moeller High School (Cincinnati, Ohio) | 30§ |
| 1994 | No first-round pick | No first-round pick | No first-round pick | No first-round pick |
| 1995 | Jonathan Johnson | Right-handed pitcher | Florida State University (Tallahassee, Florida) | 7 |
| 1996 | R. A. Dickey | Right-handed pitcher | University of Tennessee (Knoxville, Tennessee) | 18 |
| 1996 | Sam Marsonek | Right-handed pitcher | Jesuit High School (Tampa, Florida) | 24 |
| 1996 | Corey Lee | Left-handed pitcher | North Carolina State University (Raleigh, North Carolina) | 32§ |
| 1997 | Jason Romano | Third baseman | Hillsborough High School (Tampa, Florida) | 39§ |
| 1998 | Carlos Peña | First baseman | Northeastern University (Boston, Massachusetts) | 10 |
| 1999 | Colby Lewis | Right-handed pitcher | Bakersfield College (Bakersfield, California) | 38§ |
| 1999 | Mike Head | Right-handed pitcher | Soddy Daisy High School (Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee) | 47§ |
| 2000 | Scott Heard | Catcher | Rancho Bernardo High School (San Diego, California) | 25 |
| 2000 | Tyrell Godwin | Outfielder | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) | 35§ |
| 2000 | Chad Hawkins | Right-handed pitcher | Baylor University (Waco, Texas) | 39§ |
| 2001 | Mark Teixeira | Third baseman | Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia) | 5 |
| 2002 | Drew Meyer | Shortstop | University of South Carolina (Columbia, South Carolina) | 10 |
| 2003 | John Danks | Left-handed pitcher | Round Rock High School (Round Rock, Texas) | 9 |
| 2004 | Thomas Diamond | Right-handed pitcher | University of New Orleans (New Orleans, Louisiana) | 10 |
| 2004 | Eric Hurley | Right-handed pitcher | Samuel W. Wolfson High School (Jacksonville, Florida) | 30 |
| 2005 | John Mayberry Jr. | Outfielder | Stanford University (Stanford, California) | 19 |
| 2006 | Kasey Kiker | Left-handed pitcher | Russell County High School (Seale, Alabama) | 12 |
| 2007 | Blake Beavan | Right-handed pitcher | Irving High School (Irving, Texas) | 17 |
| 2007 | Michael Main | Right-handed pitcher | DeLand High School (DeLand, Florida) | 24 |
| 2007 | Julio Borbón | Outfielder | University of Tennessee (Knoxville, Tennessee) | 35§ |
| 2007 | Neil Ramírez | Right-handed pitcher | Kempsville High School (Virginia Beach, Virginia) | 44§ |
| 2007 | Tommy Hunter | Right-handed pitcher | University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Alabama) | 54§ |
| 2008 | Justin Smoak | First baseman | University of South Carolina (Columbia, South Carolina) | 11 |
| 2009 | Matt Purke* | Left-handed pitcher | Klein High School (Klein, Texas) | 14 |
| 2009 | Tanner Scheppers | Right-handed pitcher | St. Paul Saints (Independent baseball) | 44§ |
| 2010 | Jake Skole | Outfielder | Blessed Trinity Catholic High School (Roswell, Georgia) | 15 |
| 2010 | Kellin Deglan | Catcher | R. E. Mountain Secondary School (Langley, British Columbia) | 22 |
| 2010 | Luke Jackson | Right-handed pitcher | Calvary Christian High School (Clearwater, Florida) | 45§ |
| 2010 | Mike Olt | Third baseman | University of Connecticut (Storrs, Connecticut) | 49§ |
| 2011 | Kevin Matthews | Left-handed pitcher | Richmond Hill High School (Richmond Hill, Georgia) | 33 |
| 2011 | Zach Cone | Outfielder | University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia) | 37§ |
| 2012 | Lewis Brinson | Outfielder | Coral Springs High School (Coral Springs, Florida) | 29 |
| 2012 | Joey Gallo | Third baseman | Bishop Gorman High School (Las Vegas, Nevada) | 39§ |
| 2012 | Collin Wiles | Right-handed pitcher | Blue Valley West High School (Stilwell, Kansas) | 53§ |
| 2013 | Alex Gonzalez | Right-handed pitcher | Oral Roberts University (Tulsa, Oklahoma) | 23 |
| 2013 | Travis Demeritte | Third baseman | Winder-Barrow High School (Winder, Georgia) | 30§ |
| 2014 | Luis Ortiz | Right-handed pitcher | Sanger Union High School (Sanger, California) | 30§ |
| 2015 | Dillon Tate | Right-handed pitcher | University of California, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, California) | 4 |
| 2016 | Cole Ragans | Left-handed pitcher | North Florida Christian High School (Tallahassee, Florida) | 30§ |
| 2017 | Bubba Thompson | Outfielder | McGill–Toolen Catholic High School (Mobile, Alabama) | 26 |
| 2017 | Chris Seise | Shortstop | West Orange High School (Winter Garden, Florida) | 29 |
| 2018 | Cole Winn | Right-handed pitcher | Lutheran High School of Orange County (Orange, California) | 15 |
| 2019 | Josh Jung | Third baseman | Texas Tech University (Lubbock, Texas) | 8 |
| 2019 | Davis Wendzel | Third baseman | Baylor University (Waco, Texas) | 41§ |
| 2020 | Justin Foscue | Second baseman | Mississippi State University (Starkville, Mississippi) | 14 |
| 2021 | Jack Leiter | Right-handed pitcher | Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee) | 2 |
| 2022 | Kumar Rocker | Right-handed pitcher | Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee) | 3 |
| 2023 | Wyatt Langford | Outfielder | University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida) | 4 |
| 2024 | Malcolm Moore | Catcher | Stanford University (Stanford, California) | 30 |