Fastball

Cincinnati Reds Acquire Former Top Prospect in Trade with Texas Rangers

Twenty-five year-old Owen White has made five career appearances at the big-league level.

Brady Farkas

Texas Rangers pitcher Owen White against the Seattle Mariners during a spring training baseball game at Peoria Sports Complex in 2023.
Texas Rangers pitcher Owen White against the Seattle Mariners during a spring training baseball game at Peoria Sports Complex in 2023. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
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The Cincinnati Reds have acquired minor league pitcher Owen White in a trade Monday with the Texas Rangers. White had recently been designated for assignment.

The 25-year-old North Carolina native has made five career appearances at the big-league level, going 0-1 with a 16.71 ERA in just 7.0 innings. He has made limited appearances in each of the last two seasons for the Rangers, including in 2023 when the Rangers won the World Series.

Despite his struggles and general lack of big-league experience, White does have a prospect pedigree. He was the second round pick of the Rangers back in 2018

He was ranked as the No. 8 prospect in the Rangers organization back in 2022 and he ascended to No. 3 in 2023.

There's no telling if or how White might fit into the Reds plans this year. The team has Andrew Abbott, Graham Ashcraft, Hunter Greene, Roansy Contreras, Nick Lodolo, Rhett Lowder, Nick Martinez and Brady Singer as starting rotation options already. Perhaps White can find a role in the bullpen under new manager Terry Francona, who was hired earlier this offseason.

The Reds are coming off a season in which they finished fourth in the National League Central and missed the playoffs yet again, but there are reasons for optimism. Several of those pitchers are young and exciting while the team also has young and exciting position players like Elly De La Cruz, Noelvi Marte and Spencer Steer. Matt McLain should also be back healthy from injury after missing the entirety of the 2024 season.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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