Rick Hahn has his new right fielder. Evan Grant is reporting that the White Sox and Rangers have agreed to a trade that will send 24-year-old outfielder Nomar Mazara to the South Side of Chicago.
The left-handed batter has a lot of potential, but he hasn’t been able to fully put it together in four full seasons with the Rangers. In more than 2,000 plate appearances Mazara has posted a career .754 OPS. His power has slightly increased from year to year, taking a considerable bump in 2019, when he had a career high .469 slugging %.
Mazara hit 20 home runs in each of his first three seasons in Texas and then hit 19, but played a career low 116 games in 2019. He’s been bad against left-handed pitching and overall hasn’t quite been an average league hitter.
For his career Mazara has a 92 wRC+ or 8% worse than league average. He’s a below average hitter, defender and base runner, leading to only a career 1.7 fWAR in 537 games. Mazara’s best season was in 2018, when he posted a 0.9 fWAR.
Mazara has two years left of team control via arbitration. He’s projected to make $5.7 million in 2020.
Meanwhile, White Sox prospect Steele Walker appears to be the return for the Rangers.
Walker, 23, was taken in the second round of the 2018 draft by the White Sox. The left-handed hitting outfielder had an .811 OPS in 120 games in the minors in 2019. Before the deal, MLB Pipeline ranked Walker as the sixth best prospect in the White Sox minor league system.
