Texas Rangers Trade One of Their Top Prospects to Cincinnati Reds in Latest Move

One of the Texas Rangers top prospects has now been shipped out of town in their latest move, sending him to the Cincinnati Reds.

Mar 5, 2024; Peoria, Arizona, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Owen White against the Seattle Mariners during a spring training baseball game at Peoria Sports Complex / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

This has not been a quiet offseason for the Texas Rangers.

After missing the playoffs last year, the front office is doing their part to make sure that doesn't happen again, re-signing Nathan Eovaldi, adding more star hitters in Jake Burger and Joc Pederson, and making upgrades to their bullpen.

The Rangers have been aggressive the past few winters, and this is a return to that mentality.

While Texas seems to have completed the majority of their moves, they are still in the sweepstakes for Roki Sasaki, although they might have an uphill battle on that front to land the Japanese phenom.

Other moves were expected to be made, especially around the fringes of the roster, and that's exactly what took place on Monday with their decision to trade top 30 prospect Owen White to the Cincinnati Reds.

The @Reds have acquired Rangers No. 25 prospect Owen White in exchange for cash considerations.

Scouting report, tool grades and more on the 6-foot-3 right-hander: https://t.co/Insm6Hq50X pic.twitter.com/q9CQlL8XwW

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) January 6, 2025

White was a second-round pick of the Rangers in 2018, and it looked like he could become a factor for them at some point during his career, whether that was as a starter or reliever.

The right-hander was very good in the lower levels of the minors, posting a 3.06 ERA during his debut professional season before following that up with a 9-2 record and 3.59 ERA across his 15 outings and 14 starts.

But, when he reached the upper levels of the farm system, that's when he ran into trouble.

White had a 4.99 ERA in Triple-A during the 2023 campaign. Following that, the Rangers opted to use him in more of a swingman role last year by having him start 15 games and come out of the bullpen for 14.

He peaked at No. 3 in their pipeline in 2023, looking like he would be a future star, but following his recent struggles, he was bumped down to No. 25 before this trade.

Knocking on the doorstep of making his Major League debut this season, he likely wouldn't have been a factor with Texas since they have a stacked rotation as currently constructed, so they were able to get some cash back by sending him to the Reds.