0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 40 | Run: 45 | Arm: 50 | Field: 50 | Overall: 45Fitz-Gerald won four consecutive Florida 7-A state championships at Stoneman Douglas HS (Parkland), where his father, Todd, is the head coach and has mentored players such as Roman Anthony, Jesús Luzardo and Coby Mayo. The Rangers drafted him in the fifth round last July and lured him away from a North Carolina State commitment with a well-over-slot $900,000 bonus. Early-season hamstring issues delayed his pro debut in 2025.A switch-hitter, Fitz-Gerald is a natural right-hander, but scouts prefer his swing and power potential from the left side. He has good feel for the barrel and doesn't try to do too much at the plate, focusing on driving the ball from gap to gap. He's not especially physical and won't be a slugger, but his feel for the barrel could translate into solid hitting ability with 12-15 homers per season.As with many coach's sons, Fitz-Gerald has a high baseball IQ that helps him get the most out of his tools. He has fringy speed but is a savvy baserunner who gets to grounders in the middle infield. A shortstop in high school, he's better suited for second base in pro ball with his range and average arm, and he has the quick hands to be effective on the double-play pivot.
The son of longtime Stoneman Douglas High head coach Todd Fitz-Gerald, Devin was one of the most polished players in the 2025 Arizona Complex League and bullied his way to Low-A before the season concluded. He’s a baseball rat’s baseball rat, and scouts and coaches give him high marks for his makeup. Like Fien, Fitz-Gerald projects as an above-average hitter, though his power might settle in a tick lower at around average. He could boost that projection by getting more balls in the air. He’s a fringy defender who fits best at second base but would be the kind of player who gets every last ounce out of his abilities and isn’t afraid to get his uniform dirty. He’s a below-average runner but has plenty of savvy on the basepaths. A strained left shoulder limited his Low-A stint to just 10 games.
Devin Fitz-Gerald, who is a real person and not one of Bertie Wooster’s friends from the Drones Club, has emerged as the best player from the Rangers’ 2024 draft class, although he played in just 41 games in 2025. Drafted from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Fitz-Gerald got a late start in 2025 because of a shoulder issue, then hit .318/.423/.542 in the Arizona Complex League in 31 games before a 10-game run in Low A, where he hit .250/.442/.281, walking more than he struck out at both stops. He’s a shortstop with great instincts and a plus-plus arm, and he hit the ball quite hard in the ACL. He did miss some time with a hamstring injury, so getting him 100-plus games in 2026 will be a priority. He might be the highest variance guy in the deal, as right now it’s a good utility/soft-regular profile, but he hasn’t played much and is still quite young, so there could be more ceiling than I think.
What a pro debut so far for Fitz-Gerald, who has an OPS well over 1.000 in the ACL. The switch-hitting Floridian high schooler (not to be confused with Devin Fitzgerald, Larry Fitzgerald’s son) was signed away from a North Carolina State commit for $900,000 last year.He has above-average bat speed and swings with dangerous loft from both sides of the plate. He’s only about 5-foot-10 but is very physical and muscular throughout his frame. His raw power is approaching the big league average already and projects above at peak. Fitz-Gerald’s contact performance on the high school showcase circuit was pretty good (77% contact%, 83% in-zone), but not as great as his initial pro sample (82%, 89%,respectively). Both were generated across just shy of 100 plate appearances. It’s the difference between being an average hitter and a plus hitter, so which is real?Because of the nature of his swing, Fitz-Gerald will likely be vulnerable to elevated pitches as he climbs. He has some feel for getting his hands to those spots, but he’s not facing anything close to big league velocity right now; he might be thriving because he’s a compact, short-levered guy rather than because of actual feel to hit. There’s some volatility there, but Fitz-Gerald definitely looks more like a late first round talent than a late third rounder (where a $900,000 bonus is the slot amount). Switch-hitters with this kind of pop from both sides of the plate don’t exactly grow on trees, not even in Florida.FItz-Gerald has played a pretty even mix of second base, third base, and shortstop, and in Eric’s looks has been best at third. His range and arm are terrific, and he looks more agile and athletic now than he did as a high schooler. This is a potential switch-hitting regular at second or third who shares a lot of similarities with Jed Lowrie.
12:18 Bill: I was a little surprised Fitz-Gerald didn’t merit a 45+ with a shot at a 50 if he keeps it up. Is it the physical limitations with respect to defense or in game power that is mostly holding him back? It wasn’t clear from the write up. I guess it’s just a profile that will require him to prove it at the high minors?12:20 Eric A Longenhagen: I think it’s gonna be one or the other. Either he ends up big enough to have power (and has to move off short) or he remains lithe enough for short, in which case it’s tough to see power. There are players for whom this seemed true (Tommy Edman) and the guy found a way to get strong anyway. That’s plausible for Fitz, I suppose. He’s a good prospect. My notes from the fall were better than my notes from this spring, the weather in the NE has been nutty, small sample etc
This guy is going to end up being the steal of the Gore trade. Reminds me of a left handed Biggio
Not to be confused with Devin Fitzgerald, Larry Fitzgerald’s son, Fitz-Gerald was signed away from a North Carolina State commit for $900,000 in 2024. He crushed the complex in Arizona for six weeks in 2025 and earned a promotion to Low-A Hickory, where he hurt his shoulder diving for a ball after just 10 games. During the offseason, he became one of the several exciting players included in the MacKenzie Gore trade, and was aggressively assigned to High-A Wilmington at the start of 2026.Fitz-Gerald is a skillful player with a heuristically pleasing profile — switch-hitting shortstop with contact skills — but he isn’t all that explosive of an athlete or swinger. Graceful body control, creativity, and a well-calibrated internal clock allow him to make crafty plays at shortstop, but his twitch, range, and the quality and quickness of his actions are all at least a shade beneath the average big leaguer’s. He’s a balanced in-the-box athlete with great plate discipline, and has average bat speed and barrel feel from both sides of the plate, giving him gap doubles power right now, with a chance for more depending on how much strength he can layer onto his smedium (but well-composed) frame. There are outcomes where Fitz-Gerald adds meaningful strength and power but moves to second base (the good version of this looks like Jed Lowrie), and there are outcomes where his contact quality stays lighter, but he remains a viable shortstop (Joey Wendle). Because he isn’t the twitchiest guy, the pursuit of strength might not necessarily yield more in-game power, but it’d almost certainly mean he’d end up moving off short. Monitoring which fork in the developmental road Fitz-Gerald seems to be taking will be a key part of evaluating him over the next two or three years as he climbs toward the big leagues. This forecast leans more toward the well-rounded, lower-impact shortstop version of events.
Heuristically pleasing profile? Who writes this?
I was getting the occasional ChatGPT vibe. That's a good example.
2-3, 4R, 3BB, 3B, HR, RBI last night. OPS up to 1.023Gotta be getting close to moving King to Rochester and F-G to Harrisburg.
Whoa Nellie. Seaver King has only 125 plate appearances at Double A. Still only 23 and about a year younger than the average age in double A. Can’t see any reason to rush him before the summer.
He had 357 plate appearances last year. Are we saying we want to see more success at Double A first? Because so far, he's got almost 500 plate appearances in Double A in his career. And the reason to "rush him" this summer would be to get him to the Triple A level, get him working with a "pro-ready" staff, so he is in a position to be CJ's replacement after the trade deadline.
Yes, his OPS was .600 at Harrisburg last year. He sucked.
