Around 2:10 pm I was taking a quiz for one of my college classes. During this quiz, I heard my phone start to get spammed with notifications. Normally that means one of two things for me, one a big signing or trade just happened around the league, or two the Rangers just made a big move. After I completed my quiz I look to see what happened and I see that Jon Heyman reported that MacKenzie Gore has been traded to the Rangers. I was in absolute shock to see this news. Here is the trade summary:
Rangers get- MacKenzie Gore
Nationals get- Gavin Fien (No. 2), Alejandro Rosario (No. 6), Devin Fitz-Gerald (No. 12), Yermey Cabrera (No. 16), Abimelec Ortiz (No. 18)
That’s a sizable haul for the Nationals, but that is the cost of acquiring one of the best left-handed starters in the game with two years of control remaining.You might say the Rangers just made their farm system worse, but while prospects are nice they aren’t everything. Especially when the Rangers window is now, and those guys aren’t close to impacting the big league club. MacKenzie Gore will make an immediate impact at the major league level. The Rangers starting rotation is now headlined by Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, MacKenzie Gore, and Jack Leiter. Cody Bradford is also progressing well in his rehab and could be back around the middle of May. That is a very good rotation that could be dangerous in the playoffs if healthy.
Now let’s talk about what MacKenzie Gore brings to the table. Gore brings a five-pitch repertoire consisting of a four-seam fastball, curveball, slider, changeup, and cutter. Gore’s fastball, which he throws 49% of the time, will sit around 95 MPH and generates 17 inches of induced vertical break (or iVB). He also gets a 26% chase rate on the pitch too. MacKenzie Gore also gets good extension (he ranks in the 86th percentile). His grades out at a 105 Stuff+, thats the highest of any of his pitches.
Gore’s secondaries are definitely what makes him one of the best left-handed starters in the game. His change-up, which he throws 10% of the time, generates an insane 47.2 Whiff% on the pitch, while hitters chase it 33.8% of the time. Gore’s curveball is also very good. Opponents batting average against the curve is .217. He also generates a good amount of whiff, as hitters swing and miss 35.7% of the time and has a chase rate of 32.5%. Gore likes to use the curve against right-handed hitters, but will still throw it against lefties. The slider is also a very good offering from Gore. A pitch he throws 12% of the time, and is basically only used against left-handed hitters. Hitters whiff 39.3% of the time and has a chase rate of 31.5%. Opponents only hit .195 against it as well. MacKenzie Gore will also toss in a cutter 5% of the time that also nets him good results. Hitters swing and miss 40.9% of the time against the pitch and have a .200 batting average against it.
Some people may look at MacKenzie Gore’s ERA that is at 4.17 and say why did we give up those players for a pitcher with an ERA over 4. MacKenzie Gore over the last two seasons has a WAR over 6, and there are only 6 players that can say that. That list consists of Paul Skenes, Garrett Crochet, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Hunter Brown, Hunter Greene, and MacKenzie Gore. I would say he is in very good company. Before the all-star break he had a 3.02 ERA and was one of the league leaders in strikeouts. He is now pitching in a far more pitcher-friendly park after spending time in a hitter-friendly environment in Washington. In addition, the Nationals defense was among the worst in the league and the Rangers are good defensively. Maybe not as good as they were last year, but it will still be good. This is a very good move for the Rangers and I have to give Chris Young and Ross Fenstermaker credit, because I didn’t think we would be able to land MacKenzie Gore.
(All stats are from Baseball Savant, TJstats, and Fangraphs.)