2025 MLB Draft Preview: Gavin Fien scouting report
The 2025 MLB Draft is less than a month away — the first round kicks off on July 13, 2025 — so its time to start offering capsule looks at players the Texas Rangers could select with their top picks. The Rangers’ first round pick is at #12, their second round pick is at #52, and their third round pick is at #84.
Leading up to draft day, we will be doing writeups of some of the players who could end up getting selected by the Rangers with one of their first three picks. Today we are looking at Katy, Texas prep shortstop Lucas Franco.
Lucas Franco is a 6’3”, 170 lb. lefthanded hitting shortstop out of Cinco Ranch High School in Katy, Texas. He turned 18 at the end of April. He is committed to play for TCU if he does not end up signing with whoever drafts him (if he gets drafted) next month.
Franco is a guy with a solid hit tool, getting praise for his plate discipline and ability to make contact. He lacks power presently, though with his size, there’s thought that he could get to average power as he fills out. Franco did not perform well last summer offensively, with MLB Pipeline saying he “tried to do too much” and ended up chasing too often.
Franco is tall for a shortstop, but he’s not seen as someone who will automatically have to move off the position. He gets praise for his hands and instincts at the position, with MLB Pipeline calling him one of the best defenders at shortstop among the high schoolers in this draft. If he can’t stay at shortstop, he has the arm to play third base. Franco is an average runner currently, and would be expected to slow down some when he gets bigger.
Baseball America has Franco at #53 on their top 500 list. MLB Pipeline’s draft rankings have Franco at #60. Keith Law’s top 100 list does not list Franco. Kiley McDaniel’s top 150 list has Franco at #78. Fangraphs has Franco as part of their FV 40 group on their board.
Franco has been on the prospect map for some time, and was graded more highly before his disappointing summer — he was at #11 on the BA draft board at one time. In that regard, he’s kind of the opposite of Gavin Fein, the prep infielder we wrote up last time — Fein had a great summer but then a disappointing spring, while Franco has been the other way around.
A team judging Franco has to determine if the summer struggles were an indication that he’s not going to be able to handle playing against better competition, or if it is just a one off, with his league performance as a senior being more indicative of what he’s going to do. The fact that he is seen as having a good chance at sticking at shortstop takes some pressure off of his bat, as he doesn’t have to hit as well to succeed as someone like Fein who is going to move off shortstop almost immediately. He’s also relatively young, with his 18th birthday being less than three months before the draft, which helps his case.
I’m not sure the Rangers would go with Franco in the second round — they’ve tended to go with college guys there of late — but he would be a potential overslot guy in the third or fourth round for Texas, should he drop.
Previously: