Texas Rangers trade for Royals pitcher before series opener against the Cardinals

The Texas Rangers pulled off their second trade in as many days when they swapped pitchers with the Kansas City Royals ahead of their three-game series with the St Louis Cardinals.

The Rangers acquired Walter Pennington from the Royals in exchange for Michael Lorenzen.

Pennington, 26, made his major league debut in July and is currently pitching in the Royals minor league system.

The Broomfield native was signed as a minor league free agent by the Royals on August 19, 2020, and had spent his entire career with the organization. Pennington is currently pitching for the Triple-A Omaha Strom Chasers and has gone 6-3 with a 2 saves and a 2.26 ERA.

The 32-year-old Lorenzen signed a one-year with the Rangers headlining into this season and had gone 5-6 with a 3.81 ERA in 18 starts for the team before being traded.

Following this trade, the Rangers remain at the 40-man limit on the club’s Major League roster, along with seven players on the 60-day Injured List: Cody Bradford, Carson Coleman, Jacob deGrom, Josh Jung, Tyler Mahle, Austin Pruitt, Cole Winn.

Rangers, Tigers swap catchers

On Sunday the Rangers acquired catcher Carson Kelly from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for catcher Liam Hicks and pitcher Tyler Owens

Kelly, 30, has batted. 240 with seven home runs and 29 RBI in 60 games for Detroit this season. He has made 52 starts for the Tigers and has thrown out 17 of 59 attempted base stealers.

The Chicago, Ill. native was originally selected by St. Louis in the 2nd round of the 2012 MLB Draft out of Westview (Portland, Or.) High School and has batted .224 (333-1489) with 52 home runs, two triples, 66 doubles, and 199 RBI over parts of nine Major League seasons with St. Louis (2016-18), Arizona (2019-23), and Detroit (2023-24). Since 2019, the backstop’s 10.1% walk rate ranks 8th among qualified MLB catchers, while his 3404.0 innings caught behind the plate are 12th most in all of baseball in that span.

The 23-year-old Owens has gone 2-0 with eight saves and a 2.80 ERA in 26 relief appearances for Double-A Frisco this season in his first year with the Texas organization. He was acquired from Atlanta in a January 26, 2024, trade that sent outfielder J.P. Martinez to the Braves.

Hicks, 25, has batted .260 with four home runs and 33 RBI over 80 games with Frisco (AA) in 2024. He has spent his entire career in the Texas organization since being selected in the 9th round of the 2021 MLB Draft.

Staff writer Dave Ammenheuser and the Texas Rangers contributed to this report.