The Rangers are acquiring catcher Carson Kelly from the Tigers to bolster their catching staff. In exchange, Texas will send catcher Liam Hicks and right-handed pitching prospect Tyler Owens to Detroit. Both teams have announced the agreement.
Kelly, 30, was signed by the Tigers in August of last year, after being designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks earlier that month. Kelly, a second-round choice by the Cardinals in 2012, was a consensus top-50 prospect in baseball when he was traded to Arizona ahead to the 2019 season in exchange for then-franchise face Paul Goldschmidt.
Kelly’s first three years in Arizona went well, as he combined outstanding work behind the plate with a.239/.333/.435 slash line, enough for a 100 league average wRC+. Kelly took a step back in 2022, and his 2023 season with the Diamondbacks was nothing short of terrible, hitting just.226/.283/.298 in 32 games backing up Gabriel Moreno before being designated for assignment.
Kelly did not immediately show signs of progress after joining the Tigers for the stretch push last year, hitting a paltry.173/.271/.269 in 18 games, but Detroit brass saw fit to pick up a $3.5 million club option on his services for the 2024 season in November. That decision has shown to be sensible, as Kelly has emerged as the club’s primary catcher this season. At the plate, he’s hitting.242/.327/.393 (106 wRC+) with a 19.3% strikeout rate, which is his best in a full season.
Meanwhile, Statcast has given him high honors for his efforts behind the plate this season, with outstanding grades for his blocking and running game management, as well as above-average framing stats. Kelly’s great all-around profile, along with the modest financial cost of his remaining pay, appeared to make him one of the more appealing catching possibilities on the market this summer.
The Rangers’ signing of Kelly should strengthen a position that has been relatively disappointing for the team this season. After an All-Star season in 2023, Jonah Heim has taken a step back offensively this year, batting only.234/.281/.346 (75 wRC+) in 90 games, while backup Andrew Knizner has been nothing short of terrible offensively. Knizner has a wRC+ of 4 and a.167/.183/.211 batting line in 37 games with the Rangers this season, indicating that he is 96% worse than the league average hitter.
The addition of Kelly should provide the club with a significant upgrade over Knizner in their catching tandem, while also allowing the Rangers to lighten Heim’s workload as he works through his struggles and attempts to regain the form that made him one of the league’s most valuable backstops last year.
To add Kelly to their roster, the Rangers will trade a pair of Double-A prospects this season. Owens is likely the more well-known of the two, having been moved twice this year. The Rangers acquired the righty in January as part of a trade that sent outfielder J.P. Martinez to Atlanta. Owens, the Braves’ 13th-round choice in 2019, throws an upper-90s fastball, a slider, and a cutter, but has struggled with command throughout his career.
A solid 2024 may help to alleviate some of those fears, as the righty has a 2.80 ERA in 35 1/3 innings of work as a multi-inning relief with the Rangers at the Double-A level. He’s struck out 24.5% of batters while walking only 6.5%, and the 23-year-old might end up pitching in Triple-A for the Tigers before the season is up.
Along with Owens, the Tigers are adding Hicks, a Double-A catcher who has demonstrated impressive on-base skills at all levels of his career. After burning up the Arizona Fall League with a.449/.553/.522 slash line in 85 plate appearances last autumn, Hicks has started his age-25 season with a solid.364 on-base percentage in 80 games in his return to Double-A. Hicks, a career.264/.380/.360 hitter in Double-A, has tended to be on the fringes of most organizational top 30 lists due to his lack of power production and poor scouting grades behind the plate, but it’s not difficult to imagine him being useful catching depth for the big league club in the near future.
Kelly’s departure is likely to free up a big league catcher position for Dillon Dingler, the club’s #10 prospect, according to Baseball America. Dingler receives high marks for his work behind the plate and has demonstrated 20-homer power in the minor leagues, but he entered the 2024 season with severe doubts about his contact abilities after striking out 30.7% of the time during parts of three seasons at Double-A.
Dingler struggled with a brief promotion to Triple-A late last year, but he returned to the level in 2024 and has looked much better at the plate, producing an excellent.308/.379/.559 slash line with a 137 wRC+ and a 20.3% strikeout rate versus a 10% walk rate. Dingler’s improved offensive numbers should win him significant playing time in the majors behind the plate as part of a combo with Jake Rogers, who has struggled to a 68 wRC+ in 64 games this season but has good defensive metrics.
