Arlington, Texas — The Texas Rangers today acquired four players in a trade with the New York Yankees:
- To Texas: INF Josh Smith, INF Trevor Hauver, INF Ezequiel Duran, and RHP Glenn Otto
- To New York-AL: OF Joey Gallo, LHP Joely Rodríguez, and cash considerations
All four of the players acquired by the Rangers were among the top 22 prospects in the Yankees’ 2021 Baseball America mid-season rankings: Duran (#6), Smith (#8), Otto (#20), and Hauver (#22).
Smith, who will turn 24 on August 7, has combined for a .324/.448/.641/1.089 (46-142) slash line with 9 home runs, 24 RBI, and 17 stolen bases for Low-A Tampa and High-A Hudson Valley in the Yankees system. Since a promotion on June 9, Smith ranks among High-A East leaders in triples (T2nd, 3), doubles (T3rd, 12), runs (T6th, 29), and steals (7th, 12). The left-handed batter has a career .324 batting average with a 1.018 OPS figure across his two minor league seasons (2019 and 2021), playing almost exclusively at shortstop in his professional career. A second round selection in the 2019 June draft out of Louisiana State University, the Baton Rouge native is in his second professional campaign after missing all of 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season. He was the starting third baseman for a 2017 LSU squad that finished as runner up in the College World Series. Smith has been rated among top Yankees prospects by MLB.com (pre-season 14th) and Baseball America (8th).
The 22-year-old Hauver has produced a slash line of .288/.445/.498/.943 (66-229) with 9 home runs, 17 doubles, and 49 RBI over 66 games with Low-A Tampa in his first professional action in 2021. He ranks among Low-A Southeast leaders in walks (2nd, 64), OBP (3rd), total bases (3rd, 114), SLG (4th), OPS (4th), extra-base hits (4th, 28), hits (T4th), RBI (T4th), doubles (T5th), home runs (T5th), runs (6th, 48), and batting average (T6th). A left-handed batter, the Phoenix-area native has played primarily at second base this season after spending most of his collegiate career in the outfield. The Yankees’ third round selection in the 2020 MLB Draft out of Arizona State University, he combined to hit .339 (102-301) with 18 home runs and 70 RBI over 74 games in his sophomore and junior seasons. Hauver has been rated among top Yankees prospects by MLB.com (pre-season 23rd) and Baseball America (22nd).
Duran, 22, has compiled a .290/.374/.533/.907 slash line with 12 home runs and 48 RBI in 67 games with High-A Hudson Valley this season, seeing action primarily at second base in addition to shortstop. He currently ranks among High-A East league leaders in triples (1st, 6), hits (T4th, 75), doubles (T4th, 15), RBI (T5th, 48), OPS (6th, .907), SLG (7th, .533), and OBP (9th, .374). In his last full minor league season with Staten Island (A) in 2019, Duran was named a Short-Season All-Star by Baseball America after leading the New York-Penn League with 13 home runs. The Dominican Republic native has spent his entire pro career with New York since signing as a non-drafted free agent in 2017. Duran is rated as the 6th-best (Baseball America) and 15th-best (pre-season MLB.com) prospect in the Yankees organization.
Otto, 25, has split the 2021 campaign between Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA) and Somerset (AA) in the New York farm system, going 7-3 with a 3.33 ERA (28 ER/75.2 IP) and only 17 walks against 115 strikeouts in 13 games/12 starts. He began the season with Somerset and earned a promotion to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in mid-July. Otto’s 13.68 strikeouts per 9 innings rate across both levels is second-highest of any minor league pitcher in 2021 (min. 75 IP). A 6-foot-5, 240-pound native of Spring, Texas, Otto was selected by the Yankees in the fifth round of the 2017 June draft out of Rice University after graduating from Concordia Lutheran (Tex.) High School in 2014. He has gone 14-7 with a 3.07 ERA in 41 games/32 starts over four seasons in the Yankees system and is rated as the club’s 20th-best prospect by Baseball America and 28th by MLB.com (pre-season).
Gallo has spent his entire 10-year professional career in the Rangers organization since being selected in the first round (39th overall) of the 2012 MLB Draft. He was selected to the American League All-Star team in both 2019 and 2021, and ranks among Rangers all-time leaders in home runs (16th, 145) and walks (T15th, 324).
Rodríguez has gone 1-3 with a 5.93 ERA (18 ER/27.1 IP) over 31 relief appearances for the Rangers this season. This is his second season with the club after signing a two-year contract with Texas prior to the 2020 campaign.
Following this trade, the Rangers now have 38 players on the club’s Major League roster, along with seven players on the 60-day Injured List.
