Instant Grade: Rangers-Angels Trade Gives Texas Help in Key Areas

The Texas Rangers made their first trade of the week leading up to the deadline. Here’s how they did.

Los Angeles Angels catcher Logan O'Hoppe. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Texas Rangers made their first serious move of the trade deadline in a deal with the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.

The Rangers shipped a 19-year-old infield prospect, Angel Arredondo, to the Halos for two players — right-handed pitcher Chase Silseth and catcher Logan O’Hoppe.

The deal addressed two needs for the Rangers — a leverage bullpen arm with MLB experience and catching depth, as the Rangers have both opening day players, Danny Jansen and Kyle Higashioka, on the injured list.

So how did the Rangers do?

Grade: B+

Los Angeles Angels relief pitcher Chase Silseth. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Silseth will fit into the bullpen right away. The right-hander has one of baseball’s best exit velocity rates for pitchers (86.6 mph, 88th percentile) whiff rates (32.7%, 93rd percentile) and strikeout rates (27.6%, 82nd percentile). Those are the kind of traits the Rangers were looking for a leverage arm that can work alongside Jacob Latz and Jakob Junis.

Per Statcast he leans hard into his four-seam fastball (38%) and his split-fingered fastball (30%) while mixing in a sinker (16%) and a sweeper (16%).

He is 3-2 with a 2.72 ERA and hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 6.2 innings.

O’Hoppe was once considered one of the best catching prospects in baseball. The Angels got him for outfielder Brandon Marsh in a 2022 trade with the Philadelphia Phillies.

He’s been a primary starter for the Angels the past three seasons, but his bat has taken a downturn this year, with an average of .209 with four home runs, eight doubles, and 23 RBI. He is one of baseball’s best catchers when it comes to ABS challenges, as his 52 successful ABS challenges were the 4th-most among A.L. catchers. The Rangers also liked his batting average against left-handers this season — .273.

He has a career batting average of batting .227 with 57 home runs and 153 RBI in 386 games and has been one of the more durable backstops in the game the past few years. Still, he is reportedly going to Triple-A Round Rock to start with as the Rangers have Elias Diaz and Austin Wynns behind the plate.

Texas wasn’t expected to add much payroll, and they didn’t with this deal. Silseth has pitched in the Majors since 2022 but has been up-and-down so much that he only has one years of service time, isn’t arbitration eligible until 2028 and can’t be a free agent until 2031. Texas is on the hook for the remainder of O’Hoppe’s $2.63 million deal. He is arbitration eligible next year and can’t be a free agent until 2029.

Texas turned a 19-year-old infield prospect who isn’t in their Top 30 into a Major League reliever and a back-up catcher who has starting experience, both of which are under team control for at least two more years and will be cheap for the foreseeable future. The only reason the deal isn’t an A is because O’Hoppe is expected to head to the minor leagues first.

Based on what Texas needed and what they gave up, they won this deal without question.