Trade details: Texas Rangers acquire LHP MacKenzie Gore from the Washington Nationals for IF Gavin Fien, 1B Abimelec Ortiz, SS Devin Fitz-Gerald, RHP Alejandro Rosario and CF Yeremy Cabrera
Because nobody wants me to actually finish writing up my top 100 prospects list, we have another trade. This deal includes five prospects, as the Rangers shipped a pentad of players to the Nationals for left-handed starter MacKenzie Gore. Texas needed a starter, at the very least, to try to return to contention, and Gore gives them one who’s good right now and might have another gear left to engage.
Gore was the No. 3 pick way back in 2017 by the San Diego Padres. He lost his delivery and his command in 2021, then rebuilt everything enough to debut in the majors in 2022 and become a major part of the Juan Soto trade in 2023. He’s coming off two seasons as an above-average starter for the Nationals where he made 62 starts in total and threw what amounts to two full seasons of innings for a starter these days, now please excuse me while I go yell at a cloud. I don’t think he’s reached his full potential yet, and I expect the Rangers to make some changes to his arsenal at the very least.
Presently, he has at least three pitches you could grade as 55s or better (on the 20-80 scouting scale), which doesn’t count the fastball (hard, but kind of straight), yet he gives up too much hard contact and still has room to cut his walk rate, most of which comes down to command for me. He does get hitters out on both sides of the plate, although his changeup was his worst pitch by Statcast run values last year at -5 Runs Above Average, even though I have always thought the changeup was pretty good. He will go directly into the Rangers’ rotation, which gives them five major-league starters on paper if we count Jacob Latz, who had a solid eight-start run last year but needs something more to get righties out if he’s going to stick in that role.
Gavin Fien was the No. 12 pick in the 2025 draft out of Great Oak High School in Temecula, Calif. (Kevin Jairaj / Imagn Images)
Gavin Fien is the best prospect in this deal by a mile, the only one on my top 100 (running Monday), and a potential top-20 prospect in the sport if he has the year I expect from him. As an amateur, Fien was the star hitter on the showcase circuit in the summer and fall of 2024, making hard contact and showing excellent plate discipline against the best pitchers in the class. He had a down spring, however, possibly due to ‘draftitis’ (industry jargon for a player who presses with the draft coming up), allowing the Rangers to grab him with the 12th pick.
I love his swing and I believe the 2024 version is the real guy, a hitter who stays in the zone and hits a lot of hard line drives. He projects to plus power in time, with the swing path to put the ball in the seats 20 times a year or more, and he should be a solid hitter across the board who gets on base, as well. He’s not going to stay at shortstop, with 70 arm that will help him move to third base or, at worst, right field.
Right-hander Alejandro Rosario was on my top 100 prospect list a year ago, but he injured his elbow in spring training and was supposed to undergo Tommy John surgery … but as far as I can tell, he still hasn’t had the operation 10 months on, and the Rangers have been extremely circumspect about his status. He is not expected to pitch in 2026 but is expected to return at some point after that. Before the injury, the Rangers had worked wonders with him, changing his approach to go mostly four-seamer up and splitters down (as opposed to his approach at the University of Miami, where he had a 7.11 ERA). He threw a ton of strikes and repeated his delivery well enough to see a long-term starter, until the mystery surrounding his health began.
Devin Fitz-Gerald, who is a real person and not one of Bertie Wooster’s friends from the Drones Club, has emerged as the best player from the Rangers’ 2024 draft class, although he played in just 41 games in 2025. Drafted from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Fitz-Gerald got a late start in 2025 due to a shoulder issue, then hit .318/.423/.542 in the Arizona Complex League in 31 games before a 10-game run in Low A where he hit .250/.442/.281, walking more than he struck out at both stops. He’s a shortstop with great instincts and a plus-plus arm, and he hit the ball quite hard in the ACL. He did miss some time with a hamstring injury, so getting him 100-plus games in 2026 will be a priority. He might be the highest variance guy in the deal, as right now it’s a good utility/soft-regular profile, but he hasn’t played much and is still quite young, so there could be more ceiling than I think.
Abi Ortiz is a thick-bodied first baseman with big power, cut from similar cloth as Jesús Aguilar, but much shorter at 5-foot-10. Ortiz doesn’t strike out excessively at all, even with a power-over-hit approach, and despite his size he’s played some right field, just not all that well. Aguilar played parts of 10 MLB seasons and hit over 100 homers in the big leagues, with one 3.3 WAR season accounting for all of his career total, and I could see Ortiz having a similar career where he bounces around a bit, has some 20-homer seasons, and maybe draws enough walks to be a starter on a second-division team. He finished the year in Triple A and then led the Puerto Rican Winter League in walks. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him make the Nats’ roster out of spring training.
Center fielder Yeremy Cabrera plays plus defense and has bat speed, with a slashing swing that’s more oriented to contact than to driving the ball. He’s got a decent approach for a 20-year-old, although he expands the zone too much with two strikes, and he didn’t hit lefties at all in a small sample of 70 PA. He plays a little above his tools, showing good instincts, and the trend line is pointing up, although he probably has a good fourth outfielder upside right now.
It’s a solid return for the Nationals, maybe a little more quantity than quality, with Fien by far the most likely prospect to make this deal a winner for Washington. He’s a big piece for the Rangers to give up, at least based on the hitter I think he’ll become, but I also understand their willingness to give up a just-drafted 18-year-old (he turns 19 in March) and four prospects from outside their top 10 to get a starting pitcher who makes them 2-3 wins better immediately and offers the potential for more.
I also see the Nationals’ rationale for trading Gore now — he has two years of team control left, he’s coming off two great seasons and he’s a pitcher, which makes him an inherent injury risk. He wasn’t going to be around in any scenario where the Nationals are contending again, and that is a good enough reason to trade him and restock the system, even if this is more about prospect depth than ceiling. I don’t blame Nats fans for crying over losing Gore, though; you would cry too if it happened to you.