Texas Rangers acquire Hunter Cole as PTBNL in Sam Dyson trade

The Texas Rangers have acquired outfielder Hunter Cole from the San Francisco Giants as the player to be named later in the Sam Dyson trade, the team has announced today.

Dyson, of course, was acquired from the Marlins at the trade deadline in 2015 in exchange for Tomas Telis and Cody Ege, and was great for the Rangers the rest of 2015 and 2016. He then fell apart in 2017, blowing multiple saves before losing his job as the team’s closer, going on the d.l., pitching a couple of rehab games in the minors, coming back, continuing to struggle, and ultimately being designated for assignment. He was probably the biggest negative in a bullpen that was full of negatives in 2017.

Cole, who turned 25 last month, is a right fielder who put up a .249/.323/.431 slash line in the AA Eastern League in 2017. It was his third stint at AA, having finished 2015 there and spent all of 2016 there. He was a 24th round pick out of the University of Georgia in 2014. Dan Farnsworth had a writeup of Cole at Fangraphs as the #8 prospect in the Giants’ system prior to the 2016 season, because a cursory scan doesn’t turn up much else in-depth on him as far as a scouting report goes.

So it appears the Rangers got a prospect of the fringe variety. I don’t think he’ll be in the top 30 in the system in the offseason lists. But at least the Dyson deal is now done, I guess.