The Arizona Fall League is supposed to be a developmental proving ground, and Paxton Kling has wasted no time making it look like something bigger.
The Rangers outfield prospect has played only two games for Surprise Saguaro, but the bat has been loud from the start. Kling is hitting .600/.636/.900, and he’s 6-for-10 at the plate. Welbyn Francisca has more hits for the club with seven, but no Surprise player has driven in more runs than Kling’s seven, even without a home run to his name yet.
His biggest night came Monday in his second AFL game. Batting fifth and handling center field, Kling put together a huge all-around line: 4-for-5 with five RBI, a run, a walk and a strikeout.
He capped it with a walkoff RBI single in an 8-7 win. The damage included a double and a triple, both the first of his season.
Kling opened the league Saturday in a different spot, starting in right field and hitting ninth. He still gave Surprise an immediate jolt, going 2-for-5 with two RBI in a 9-3 win over Scottsdale.
That kind of start only adds to the buzz around a player who is trying to build toward bigger things in 2027 after reaching Double-A Frisco late in the season. Across 89 games with Frisco and High-A Hub City, Kling hit .243/.383/.361 with seven home runs and 34 RBI. He also finished with 15 doubles and a triple.
Speed is another part of his game that stands out. Kling swiped 40 bases in 51 tries, the kind of athleticism the Rangers would love to tap into more at the big-league level. Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young said at the end of the season that the organization’s goal is to get younger and more athletic.
Even so, Kling may not be ready to be part of that solution in 2027. That’s not only because of the possibility of a work stoppage in December.
He has just 404 career minor league at-bats, and he appeared in only five games with Frisco in 2026. On a more standard path, he probably needs until 2029 before he’s ready to help in the Majors.
A strong AFL showing could speed that up.
The Rangers took Kling out of Penn State in the seventh round of the 2025 MLB draft. The Roaring Springs, Penn., native had previously transferred back to his home state after playing at LSU, where he helped the Tigers win a national title.
Other Rangers prospects in the AFL this year include catcher Julian Brock, infielder Casey Cook, infielder Sebastian Walcott, and right-handed pitchers Alejandro Chiquillo, J'Briell Easley, Jesus Gamez, Jacob Johnson and Mason McConnaughey.
In Other News...
Rangers Need More Than Health To Fix What Sank 2026
The Rangers came out of 2026 with a clear lesson: talent alone was not enough when the roster thinned out and injuries piled up around key players. What followed was a season in which the club repeatedly leaned on depth that never quite held up, leaving manager Skip Schumaker and the front office looking back at a year where the margin for error vanished fast.
So heading into 2027, the emphasis is on competition as much as recovery. The Rangers want spring training to feel less like a walkthrough and more like a true roster fight, with multiple players pushed to earn jobs and force the best version of the team to emerge. For a club trying to avoid another slide like the one that sank 2026, the challenge is no longer simply getting healthy, but making sure the roster is built to withstand whatever comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Rangers Pitching Collapse Left One Real Reason For Hope
The Rangers 2026 season ended at 80-82, and the biggest reason they were watching October from home was impossible to miss: the pitching took a sharp step backward. After finishing first in ERA a year earlier, Texas slipped to 22nd, a stunning drop for a staff that also regressed in other key areas as injuries and coaching changes added to the churn.
There was still one part of the profile that held up better than the rest. Even with the overall collapse, the Rangers remained among the better teams at limiting walks, a reminder that command did not disappear along with the rest of the run prevention picture. For a club trying to sort through what went wrong and what can still carry over, that kind of baseline matters. [Read more 🡒]
Corey Seager's Latest Injury Update Matters For The Rangers' 2027 Outlook
Corey Seagers latest health update gives the Rangers another reason to feel better about where their core stands heading into the long view. The shortstop had been dealing with a bone spur in his right elbow for months, yet he was still available for the final two months of the season and finished that stretch with strong production at the plate, which only underscores how much he had been pushing through.
The bigger takeaway for Texas is that the list of offseason bumps is trending toward manageable rather than alarming. Josh Jung also dealt with a non-displaced fracture in his right hand, while Danny Jansen had a bone growth removed from his right hand, and all three players are expected to be ready for 2027 spring training. For a club thinking beyond one winter, that kind of cleanup matters, even if the full extent of Seagers recovery remains the part worth monitoring. [Read more 🡒]