The MLB Trade Deadline is still a couple days away. However, we have already seen big moves such as the Cubs-Rays Isaac Parades trade. On Sunday, the Texas Rangers became the latest team to strike early. Texas has traded for veteran catcher Carson Kelly in a deal with the Detroit Tigers, according to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal.
The Tigers are receiving two players in return for their veteran catcher, according to Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press. Detroit is getting right-handed pitcher Tyler Owens and catcher Liam Hicks. Both Hicks and Owens have played the majority of their season at Double-A.
Kelly provides added insurance behind the plate for the Rangers. Jonah Heim is entrenched as the team's starting backstop, but an improvement behind him was needed. Andrew Knizner has played 35 games for Texas this season. That said, he has slashed an uninspiring .167/.183/.211 in that time.
Kelly has spent parts of the last two seasons with the Tigers. He showed enough last season for Detroit to pick up his $3 million player option. In 2024, the veteran backstop has had a nice season. Kelly entered play on Sunday slashing .240/.325/.391 in 60 games with seven home runs, 29 runs batted in, and a .716 OPS.
Carson Kelly had career resurgence with Tigers
At one point, Kelly was considered a top-50 prospect in baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals. In fact, he was a key piece in the trade that landed the Cardinals star first basemen Paul Goldschmidt from the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2018. However, things didn't go to plan for Kelly in Arizona.
The Chicago native spent parts of five seasons with the Snakes from 2019 to 2023. His best season with the Diamondbacks came in 2021 when he had a 2.2 WAR while hitting 13 home runs and 46 RBI. He couldn't build upon that campaign, though. And in 2023, Arizona cut their losses.
Shortly after that, Kelly signed on with the Tigers. His 18-game cup of coffee in Detroit wasn't the most inspiring. But, as mentioned, Detroit decided to pick up his $3 million player option. He has since bounced back in 2024 and now heads to the Rangers in this trade.
It's an interesting deal considering where both teams are at. Detroit is three games under .500 following their loss to the Minnesota Twins on Sunday. However, they aren't far outside of the AL Wild Card race. In fact, they are a half-game ahead of the Rangers for the final Wild Card spot.
That said, the defending World Series champion Rangers are going for it this year. They hope Carson Kelly can provide some help as they look to turn their season completely around. It'll certainly be interesting to see how both teams do in the final weeks of the 2024 season.
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