Texas Rangers to Receive Pair of Prospects for Mike Minor

The Texas Rangers dealt Mike Minor to the Oakland A’s on Monday for two PTBNL. Per a report, those players have been unofficially identified.

Early on Monday, the Texas Rangers sent LHP Mike Minor to the Oakland A’s in exchange for a pair of Players To Be Named Later. With the current roster construction and rules for trades which center around a 60-man player pool, no players not in that group can be traded by their organization. Because of that, deals prior to this year’s MLB Trade Deadline often involved PTBNL who were already chosen and agreed upon by the dealing teams, but cannot officially be announced at this time.

The players headed Texas’ way though have been unofficially identified. Susan Slusser, who covers the A’s for the SF Chronicle, confirmed that the Rangers will receive OF Marcus Smith and INF Dustin Harris in return for Mike Minor. Both Smith and Harris were 2019 draft picks by Oakland.

Smith was Oakland’s third round pick in 2019, a prep outfielder from Missouri. Just 19, Smith had a great start to his pro career hitting .361 in 29 games at the Rookie level. FanGraphs has Smith as the 26th prospect in the Oakland system pre-trade while MLB Pipeline had him 22nd. The scouting report per FanGraphs profiles Smith as a solid defensive center fielder with the potential to be a solid contact hitter although power will never be his strength.

Harris was the A’s 11th round selection in the 2019 draft as a junior college draftee. Harris is listed as a left fielder on MiLB.com but Baseball Reference has Harris as at first and third base. His pro ball debut was impressive like Smith’s with Harris splitting time at the Rookie and Low-A levels. Between the two stops Harris hit .325 in 58 games and posted an .810 OPS. He never actually played left field in a game last year so it’s unclear where that position designation came from but he seems to be a solid bat that can play the corners.

There was a feeling among those around the A’s organization that the prospects the Texas Rangers got were heavy for what Mike Minor is at this point. Considering Minor’s struggles, landing two young prospects who both hit over .300 in their pro debuts is quite impressive and Smith especially seems like he could play a big league role at some point in his career.