The first domino has fallen in the Detroit Tigers trade deadline to-do list. Catcher Carson Kelly has been traded to the Texas Rangers, per report by Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. This is no surprise, as Jake Rogers caught the last two games within a 24 hour span, and top catching prospect Dillon Dingler got a rare day off with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens.
Kelly came to Detroit after being designated for assignment by the Arizona Diamondbacks back in mid-August of 2023. After two years of poor production at the plate as well some injury trouble, the Diamondbacks decided to go all-in with their top catching prospect, Gabriel Moreno. Scott Harris swooped in to sign the veteran catcher to a contract with a club option of $3.5M for 2024, an option they quickly exercised in the offseason.
With the Tigers, Kelly adopted the knee down setup behind the plate to better get strikes at the bottom of the zone, and it paid nice dividends in his framing numbers. Just as importantly, Kelly made some adjustments to his setup and swing, and broke out this year with the best offensive campaign he’s put together since 2019.
Kelly has hit .242 with a .327 OBP and seven home runs, posting a 107 wRC+ mark. He’s in plus territory in pop time, throwing, framing, and blocking. In short, it’s really come together for him this season. As a pending free agent, and with top catching prospect Dillon Dingler tearing it up in Toledo, the writing was on the wall.
Rangers acquiring catcher Carson Kelly from Tigers, source tells @TheAthletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 28, 2024
The Rangers made a likely match as a team trying to get back to the playoffs after their 2023 World Series title, but undercut by a rough season from their primary catcher, Jonah Heim.
In exchange, the Tigers are getting a decent relief prospect in right-hander Tyler Owens, as well as catcher Liam Hicks.
The 23-year-old Owens is an undersize, 5’10” reliever who can touch 99 mph with his fastball. It has some sneaky good underlying characteristics and forms the basis of a solid MLB relief profile. Neither of his secondary pitches, nor his command, have come along quite as hoped since he was drafted out of high school by the Atlanta Braves back in 2019 with their 13th round pick. Owens cutter and slider both flash above average, but are inconsistent. He has trimmed the walks and holds a 2.80 ERA in 26 Double-A appearances this season, but the Tigers will have work to do to get him to his setup man ceiling. He was acquired by the Rangers in a deal with the Braves in January of this year.
Owens isn’t ranked in either Baseball America or MLB Pipeline’s top 30 for the Rangers farm system. FanGraphs ranking have him at 35th in the system, although those are probably out of date.
The 25-year-old Hicks is a left-handed hitting catcher who is also rather small of frame at just 5’9”. He has pretty good bat-to-ball skills, routinely posting very low strikeout rates with walk rates nearly as high, but with minimal power. He also has been a project in terms of developing defensively, and this is his second year at the Double-A level. The Tigers are pretty good at coaching catching, but Hicks is almost just an org catcher who may get a little time eventually as depth for injury if he can clean up his game behind the plate a little more.
All in all, not much of a return. The Toronto Blue Jays did a little better yesterday in dealing away Danny Jansen. Kelly is arguably a little more valuable, but the Rangers may well have been the last team looking for a catcher at the trade deadline.
Essentially they got a possible future reliever and a depth catcher in order to call up Dillon Dingler. Not a very inspiring start to the trade season, but one would assume they’ve got a plan for Owen, and the Rangers are horrendous at developing pitchers by comparison.