Mitch Bratt Making Rangers Regret Trading Him in Merrill Kelly Deal

The Texas Rangers paid a large price to acquire starting pitcher Merrill Kelly at last year's trade deadline. A year later, it looks like a bad move for Texas.

The former Arizona Diamondbacks starter spent two months with the Rangers and went 3-3 with a 4.23 ERA in 10 starts as he joined a rotation that admittedly needed reinforcement. But he didn't have the impact Texas was hoping for and it missed the playoffs.

The Rangers paid a steep price for Kelly, who returned to the Diamondbacks on a free agent deal this season. Texas gave up three Top 30 prospects — Mitch Bratt, Kohl Drake and David Hagaman.

On Wednesday night, Bratt must have had the Rangers feeling regretful for making the deal in the first place.

Mitch Bratt’s Big Night

It’s a Bratt summer. pic.twitter.com/NsG5Ttqork
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 6, 2026

Bratt made the sixth start of his Major League career on Wednesday and did so against former Detroit Tigers All-Star Casey Mize, who was traded to the San Diego Padres at the deadline. Bratt was brilliant. He threw seven innings, gave up one hit and no runs as he walked three and struck out nine. In doing so he recorded the first win of his Major League career.

Per Optastats, he became the first rookie left-hander since 1998 when pitchers were tracked to throw at least seven innings, allow no more than one hit, strike out at least nine batters, throw under 100 pitches and earn the win.

One of the reasons why Bratt was included in the deal was because he was Rule 5 draft eligible after the season. Texas was unsure if it could protect him. Arizona took care of that by putting him on their Major League roster last November.

Texas had a sense of what it was giving up too. Last season Bratt went 7-4 with a 3.38 ERA in 23 minor league starts as he struck out 148 and walked 21 in 122.1 innings.

It gets worse. Drake, who was also in the deal, was set to start for the Diamondbacks on Thursday. He was also Rule 5 eligible and Arizona protected him in November. He made his MLB debut on July 21. He hasn’t claimed a victory yet, but he has a 4.85 ERA and has struck out 12 and walked five in 13 innings. The left-hander was 6-6 with a 4.23 ERA in the minor last season.

As for Hagaman, he was just promoted to Double-A Amarillo. That’s after he went 5-4 with a 3.03 ERA in 15 starts with High-A Hillsboro. He struck out 86 and walked 33 in 71.1 innings.

Meanwhile, the Rangers are crossing their fingers and hoping that two veterans coming off elbow surgeries — Cody Bradford and Jordan Montgomery — can give them more backbone in the rotation.

Revisionist history is never fun. But the Rangers knew what they had in Bratt and Drake and traded them for a two-month rental who — and this is the kicker — returned to the Diamondbacks after the season.

The Rangers got nothing out of a deadline deal that was supposed to help them make the postseason. And with every start that Bratt and Drake make, the deal gets worse in retrospect.

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