This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ARLINGTON — Before an ice storm swept through North Texas this weekend, Chris Young and the Rangers opted to turn up the Hot Stove when they dealt a package of prospects to the Nationals on Thursday in a blockbuster trade for starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore.
Gore came at a steep prices, with Texas sending shortstop Gavin Fien (the Rangers’ No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline), right-hander Alejandro Rosario (No. 6), infielder Devin Fitz-Gerald (No. 12), outfielder Yeremy Cabrera (No. 16) and first baseman Abimelec Ortiz (No. 18) to Washington.
“Obviously, these are talented [prospects], and they have bright futures, but we’re in a moment in time where we have a team we believe is capable of winning a championship,” general manager Ross Fenstermaker said. “These opportunities, they’re not always available in this game. It’s the price that we pay in order to compete.”
With those five prospects off to D.C., the Rangers have now dealt 11 of their top 30 prospects over the last eight months.
Texas also acquired Merrill Kelly, Phil Maton and Danny Coulombe in three deals at the 2025 Trade Deadline, parting ways with left-hander Kohl Drake, lefty Mitch Bratt, right-hander David Hagaman, lefty Mason Molina, righty Skylar Hales and lefty Garrett Horn in the process.
In all those cases, the Rangers have dealt from an area of strength — the organizational pitching prospects — to bolster the big league club in what they feel is the window of opportunity. But while doing that, Texas’ farm system has continually taken hits.
“The Rangers’ system is in a rebuilding phase after graduating Top 100 Prospects such as Evan Carter, Wyatt Langford and Kumar Rocker to the Majors and trading a ton of prospects to upgrade the big league clubs in the last two years,” MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis said.
“Getting a bunch of their pitching prospects healthy after several were hurt last year and having a promising 2025 Draft pan out would help.”
When it comes to the Gore trade, the Rangers held on to what they felt was most important. They didn’t give up their top hitting prospect — Sebastian Walcott (No. 1), the only Top 100 prospect in the system (No. 7) — nor their top MLB-ready arms in Jose Corniell (No. 2), Winston Santos (No. 3) and Emiliano Teodo (No. 11). They didn’t even have to part with a pair of underrated young pitchers in David Davalillo (No. 5) or Caden Scarborough (No. 6).
Even so, an already weak farm system — relatively speaking — took a large hit in quantity and depth, if nothing else. Now, five new prospects entered the Rangers’ Top 30 list following the deal: right-hander Gavin Collyer (No. 26), righty Carter Baumler (No. 27), left-hander Ben Abeldt (No. 28), outfielder Paxton Kling (No. 29) and righty Mason McConnaughey (No. 30).
“It’s certainly a hit [to the system],” Fenstermaker reiterated of the trade. “But any time you have an opportunity to acquire a 27-year-old All-Star, left-handed starter like MacKenzie Gore, you’ve got to go in. You’ve got to do that. Kudos to the scouting group for bringing [those prospects] into the organization, [farm director] Josh Bonifay and his crew for developing them and for putting us in a position to make this trade.
“We have the utmost confidence that those player development groups continue doing their job to replenish the system behind this trade.”
