Third piece of the Joey Gallo trade gets call up to Texas Rangers

On Saturday, the Texas Rangers made some moves regarding their roster and have called up the number four ranked prospect in their farm system per MLB Pipeline, Ezequiel Duran.

For those who don’t know Duran, he was a part of the trade that sent Joey Gallo to the New York Yankees last summer and in return, the Rangers received Duran, Josh Smith, Glenn Otto and Trevor Hauver in the deal.

This season, Duran has mainly stayed in Double-A Frisco and has been playing tremendously well, as he has posted .317 AVG, 7 HR, 31 RIB & 7 SB with a .939 OPS in 45 games, including leading the league in doubles.

The Texas Rangers are calling up Ezequiel Duran, making him the third player from the Joey Gallo trade to make his MLB debut

With the Texas Rangers currently facing some health issues, ironically to fellow Gallo trade prospect Josh Smith, they decided to bring Duran to the big leagues to see what he can offer to the team. It will be very interesting to see Duran adjust well to the big leagues, as he’s coming up directly from Double-A, where the difference in competition is more noticeable between that level and the Show.

Despite this, the infielder has been absolutely tearing it up this season and has arguably the highest ceiling of all the players involved in that Joey Gallo trade. It’s especially exciting that three out of the four players the Rangers acquired in that deal will now have made their MLB debut, following Glenn Otto last summer and of course, Smith. The one player remaining in the minors from the trade is Trevor Hauver, who’s pretty solid in his own right.

Will Ezequiel Duran stay? Will he be sent back down? That remains to be seen given injuries and the performances of other players this season. In the meantime, though, we welcome Ezequiel Duran to the show!