The Texas Rangers have been busy dominating the headlines the past few days. They demoted shortstop Elvis Andrus, and announced a new GM. Now they have traded the ace of their pitching staff, right-hander Lance Lynn to the White Sox for right-handed pitcher, Dane Dunning.
The other player the Rangers will recieve is left-handed pitcher Avery Weems.
Lance Lynn, 33, had two solid seasons in a Rangers uniform. In 46 starts for the Rangers he had a 22-14 record with a 3.57 earned run average and a 1.173 WHIP. He was clearly the Rangers best pitcher on 2020 which left many fans questioning why he wasn’t traded before the deadline came and went.
Now JD and Chris Young have turned a 33-year old ace into the #5 ranked prospect in the White Sox system plus another pitching prospect to be named. Not a bad deal for the Rangers. Not that we didn’t know but this signifies that they are in complete rebuild mode.
Dane Dunning
Dunning, soon to be 26, is a right-handed pitcher who was ranked the # 5 prospect in the White Sox farm system. He stands at 6’4 and 225 lbs and was originally drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 34th round of the 2013 draft from Clay High School in Florida.
He pitched three seasons for the University of Florida and had a 12-6 record with a 3.26 earned run average.
He was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 1st round (29th) of the 2016 draft.
The White Sox acquired Dunning as part of the trade that sent Adam Eaton to the Nationals in 2016.
Minor Leagues
In three seasons, between the Nationals and White Sox systems, he had a 17-13 record with a 2.74 earned run average.
The dreaded TJ
Dane Dunning missed the entire season in 2019 as he underwent Tommy John surgery.
MLB Debut
Dane made his Major-League debut this year on August 19 against the Detroit Tigers. He pitched 4.1 innings and allowed 3 runs on 5 hits (including a home run), 1 walk and had 7 strikeouts. He threw 73 pitches. He faced Casey Mize, another rookie making his debut and both were 1st Rd draft picks.
Dunning ended 2020 with an rWAR of 0.2 and had a 2-0 record with a 3.97 earned run average. Dunning figures to be in the middle of the rotation for Texas.
Avery Weems
Weems, 23, was drafted by the White Sox in the 6th round of the 2019 draft from the University of Arizona. He stands at 6’2 and 205 lbs.
In his two seasons pitching for Arizona, he had a 5-8 record with a 6.46 earned run average and a 3.1 walks per 9 innings a 6.6 strikeouts per 9 innings.
In the White Sox farm system, he pitched 60.1 innings and had a 5-4 record with a 2.09 earned run average. Think the White Sox saw something in Weems? I think so.
The Rangers acquire Dane Dunning and Avery Weems! Not a bad first move for GM Chris Young.
