On Thursday night, the Texas Rangers traded RHP Grant Anderson to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for minor league LHP Mason Molina.

Anderson was designated for assignment when Texas announced the signing of OF/DH Joc Pederson on Monday.

In 2024, Anderson posted a rough 8.10 ERA in 26.2 IP across six different stints with the big league club.

During the World Series winning season of 2023, Anderson pitched 35.2 innings and posted an ERA of 5.05.

On May 30th of that season, Anderson made his historic MLB debut in Detriot against the Tigers striking out seven batters in 2.2 innings while allowing just one hit.

Anderson’s effort made him the first reliever in Rangers history to strike out seven in his debut and came within one strikeout of the MLB record for most reliever strikeouts in a debut.

Unfortunately, that pitcher never returned during his time in Texas leading to the DFA and eventual trade.

Mason Molina will be more of a long-term project for the Rangers but anytime you can get a player back in exchange for a DFA, you have to be pleased.

Molina was selected in the 7th round of last year’s draft after a strong college career at both Texas Tech and Arkansas.

During his college career, Molina went 12-9 with a 3.97 ERA in 199.1 IP. In 2024, Molina started Arkansas’ postseason opener.

Globe Life Field is a familiar place for Molina who fired five shutout innings with ten strikeouts at the Globe against Michigan in the Kubota College Baseball Series in Arlington.

After being drafted, Molina tossed five shutout innings across two starts in Low A ball. He also recorded two relief appearances in the MiLB playoffs pitching once for Low A Carolina and once for High A Wisconsin.

Molina will almost certainly start the 2025 season with either the Rangers’ new Low A affiliate the Hub City Spartanburgers or in High A with the Hickory Crawdads.

When someone was drafted in the seventh round just last season, you don’t really know what you’re going to get but Texas clearly sees something in Molina if they went out and traded for him.

This will be a long-term project for the Rangers but Molina is a crafty pitcher who can get guys out.

Molina features a fastball, slider, curveball, and changeup with his changeup being considered his best pitch.

With a fastball that tops out around 95 and usually sits around just 90 Molina depends heavily on his accuracy.

Molina’s changeup which sits in the low 80’s with good movement helps his fastball play up and allows him to use it two-thirds of the time.

Texas will need to help Molina develop his curveball which he has trouble commanding receiving just a 40 grade on the pitch coming out of college.

If the Rangers can help Molina develop his curve and slider, they could have a strong four-pitch mix arm on their hands in the future.