Houston Astros Pull Off Trade with White Sox for Pitcher

The Houston Astros have added to their pitching depth after making a trade with the Chicago White Sox.

Jul 25, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros general manager Dana Brown | Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

It has not been the season that the Houston Astros imagined when coming into camp for Spring Training, but with it only being mid-May, there is still time to turn things around.

As winners of five out of their last six games, it feels like that is starting to happen as they entered a stretch that really would decide how their year was going to end up.

When the Astros were at their lowest, many around the league were speculating they might have to become sellers at the trade deadline to recuperate assets and not lose some of their best pieces for nothing.

General manager Dana Brown dismissed that notion, saying this team was too good to not get things fixed before July 30 arrives.

Houston did make a trade, but not one that many were expecting.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported that they shipped out outfielder Corey Julks to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for minor league pitcher Luis Rodriguez.

This is a long-term play for the Astros as Rodriguez is currently in the White Sox's rookie ball affiliate where he has struggled. However, the 19-year-old will get a new opportunity within Houston's pipeline who has shown the ability to develop pitching at a high level.

Julks was recently designated for assignment, so this move doesn't come as too big of a surprise.

After appearing in 93 games for the Astros in 2023 and putting up a slash line of .245/.297/.352 with six homers, 20 extra-base hits, and 33 RBI, he was sent to the minors in late-August and hasn't played in a Major League game since.

Houston decided to give Jake Meyers another shot at center field in 2024, and after the emergence of Chas McCormick, there wasn't a whole lot of opportunity for Julks, especially with Joey Loperfido tearing it up in Triple-A.

So, he'll now get a fresh start in Chicago.

As far as the Astros are concerned, they were able to get back a future asset by clearing up a bit of the logjam in their outfield, moving the one player who likely didn't have much of a future with the organization.