The Rangers and White Sox pulled off a late-night trade at the 2019 Winter Meetings in San Diego on Tuesday night, with Texas sending outfielder Nomar Mazara to Chicago in exchange for minor league outfielder Steele Walker.
Both teams announced the trade shortly after 1 a.m. ET Wednesday (10 p.m. PT Tuesday). Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News and T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com were first to report the trade had been agreed upon.
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Mazara, 24, gives the White Sox an everyday option in right field, although he has been below-average as a hitter in his four major league seasons (career 93 OPS+). He was limited to 116 games in 2019 because of injury and poor play. Still, he possesses power (20 home runs in each of his first three seasons and 19 last season) and rare MLB experience for his age.
He will join a Chicago team that's looking to make a big leap in 2020. The White Sox's starting outfield at the moment is young foundation piece Eloy Jimenez in left field, defensive whiz Adam Engel in center and Mazara in right. The Sox earlier this offseason signed catcher Yasmani Grandal as a free agent and re-signed first baseman Jose Abreu.
Walker, 23, played at Single-A Kannapolis and Winston-Salem last season, putting together an .811 OPS in 528 plate appearances. Chicago drafted him in the second round out of the University of Oklahoma in 2018.
Texas' main right field options right now appear to be Joey Gallo and Shin-Soo Choo, although Gallo has just 16 career games of experience at the position, all in 2018, and Choo, 37, is primarily a designated hitter at this stage of his career.
