Rangers Acquire Billy McKinney, Zach Reks From Dodgers For Cash
The Texas Rangers have acquired outfielders Billy McKinney and Zach Reks from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for cash considerations. Both players were designated for assignment by the Dodgers on Friday and are added to the Rangers’ 40-man roster.
McKinney, 27, had big league stints with three different clubs in 2021, combining for a .192/.280/.358/.638 slash line with nine home runs and 27 RBI in a career-high 116 games for the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, and Dodgers. He also played in four postseason games for the Dodgers during the Wild Card and Division Series rounds. Prior to 2021, he also saw big league time with the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.
McKinney is a Dallas native and graduated from Plano West High School. He was a first-round selection (24th overall) by the Oakland Athletics in the 2013 MLB Draft and had been committed to Texas Christian University prior to signing with the A’s.
McKinney has a career 0.5 bWAR over 240 big league games with five different clubs. He is represented by Scott Boras.
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Reks, 28, made his Major League debut in 2021, going 0-for-10 with seven strikeouts over six games for the Dodgers. The left-handed hitting outfielder spent the majority of last year at Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he displayed some of the pop in his bat. He slashed .280/.382/.539/.921 with 19 home runs and 67 RBI in 87 games, and has produced a career slash line of .295/.383/.487/.870 with 54 home runs and 212 RBI across four minor league seasons in the Dodgers organization. He has made the vast majority of his starts at the corner outfield spots (173 in left field, 63 in right field), while also making 16 starts at first base.
Reks was the Dodgers' No. 23 prospect in Baseball America's 2021 midseason rankings. He was selected by the Dodgers in the 10th round of the 2017 MLB Draft following two seasons as a walk-on at the University of Kentucky in 2016-17. His first season of collegiate baseball was for the United States Air Force Academy in 2013.
Following this trade, the Rangers have 39 players on the club’s 40-man roster.
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