2026 MLB Draft Preview: Cooper Harris scouting report.
The 2026 is about a month away — the first round kicks off on July 11, 2026 — 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 #16, their second round pick is at #54, and their third round pick is at #89.
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 Flower Mound righthanded pitcher Cooper Harris.
Cooper Harris is a local product, a 6’3”, 205 lb. righthanded pitcher out of Flower Mound High School. Harris just turned 18 last week, making him on the younger side for a high school prospect. He is committed to the University of Texas.
Harris has seen his stock rise this spring, most notably with an outing in the Amegy Bank Series that saw him strike out 17 batters in six no hit innings. Both MLB Pipeline and Keith Law have his fastball at 90-94 mph. Law says Harris works his fastball well at the top of the zone, while Pipeline says he can make his fastball rise, sink or cut with good command. His youth and build are such that he’s projected to be able to add velocity going forward.
Harris is a four pitch pitcher, with a curve, slider and changeup to go with the fastball, though, as is the case with most prep pitchers, he rarely throws his changeup. He gets good reviews for his athleticism and ability to repeat his delivery. He is seen as a strike thrower with a starting pitcher profile.
Baseball America has Harris at #85 on their board. MLB Pipeline has Harris at #62 on their board. Kiley McDaniel puts Harris at #82 on his top 150 list. Keith Law’s rankings have Harris at #53 on his board. Fangraphs does not have Harris on their board. Baseball Prospectus does not have Harris on their top 30 draft board.
The only high school pitcher-only the Rangers have taken in the top three rounds since their scouting and player development overall after the 2018 season is Tekoah Roby, taken in the third round in 2020, though Josh Owens, their 2025 third round pick, is a two-way player. Harris would seem likely to slot in the second or third rounds, or be a well-above-slot pick in the later rounds.
One can make some comparisons between Harris and 2023 6th rounder Caden Scarborough, who received an above-slot bonus as a late riser whose projectability the Rangers were betting on, and who is now a consensus top 100 prospect in baseball. Harris is currently more highly touted — at least in the public rankings — than Scarborough was heading into the draft, and so likely can’t be landed by offering him fourth round money, the way Scarborough was.
How strong Harris’s commitment to the University of Texas is isn’t clear, from what I’ve seen. If his hometown team comes calling with, say, third round money — the Rangers’ third round slot figure is $900,800 — one would like to think that would get him signed.
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