D-Backs Select Four Players, Designate Tommy Henry
The Diamondbacks have added four players to keep them out of the Rule 5 draft: pitchers Kohl Drake, Mitch Bratt and Dylan Ray and infielder Jose Fernandez. Arizona only had three openings on the 40-man roster, so they designated lefty Tommy Henry for assignment.
Henry, 28, pitched just 6 2/3 innings in the big leagues this year. He has 181 innings of 5.07 ERA ball under his belt in the majors but wasn’t going to be a factor on next year’s staff after undergoing Tommy John surgery in late June. Henry had a decent showing with the ’23 D-backs, tossing 89 innings of 4.15 ERA ball, and he posted similar numbers in Triple-A the following season. However, he was clearly pitching through something in 2025, posting an 8.12 ERA in 11 Triple-A starts before hitting the injured list and ultimately undergoing surgery.
Any team can now claim Henry, but he’d need to be carried on the 40-man roster all winter before the 60-day IL becomes available again in spring training. Given his lack of consistent big league success to date and that lengthy injury rehab, there’s a good chance he’ll pass through waivers unclaimed. If Henry becomes a free agent, he’ll be an option to sign with the D-backs or another club on a minor league deal. He still has four-plus seasons of club control remaining.
Drake is one of the prospects the D-backs acquired when trading Merrill Kelly to the Rangers this past July. The 25-year-old was an 11th-rounder in 2022 and has put himself on the prospect map with solid performances in each of the past two seasons (2.29 ERA across three levels in ’24, 4.23 ERA between Double-A and Triple-A this past season). Drake punched out more than 35% of his opponents in 2024 and more than 28% at higher levels in 2025. He sits 92-94 mph with his heater and has three secondary pitches as well as solid command. A big league debut in 2026 seems likely.
Like Drake, Bratt came to the Snakes in that Kelly trade. Texas drafted him in the fifth round back in ’21. He pitched 122 1/3 innings with a sharp 3.38 ERA at the Double-A level in 2025 and logged even more encouraging rate stats: 29.3% strikeout rate and 4.2% walk rate. As with Drake, he could get his first big league look next year, though the D-backs may want to give him some run in Triple-A before that point.
The 24-year-old Ray was Arizona’s fourth-round selection in 2022. The 6’3″, 230-pound righty out of Alabama pitched well for 10 starts in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting before being torched for a 6.30 ERA through 18 starts in an exorbitantly hitter-friendly environment in Triple-A Reno. He set down 20.1% of opponents on strikes and issued walks at a 9% clip. Both are worse than league-average, but Ray draws praise for a smattering of roughly average offerings and could be a back-end starter or swingman.
Fernandez is an infielder — primarily shortstop and third base — who spent his age-21 season in Double-A this past year. In 511 plate appearances, he hit .272/.321/.454 (99 wRC+) with 17 homers, a dozen steals, a 20.4% strikeout rate and a 6.3% walk rate. This was the first season he’s shown any semblance of power, as he’d previously been touted more for his athleticism, raw tools and projection more than his performance. He’ll hope for a big season in Triple-A next year, and he could factor into the big league mix either at third base or in a utility capacity if he can manage that.
Rangers Acquire Merrill Kelly
The Rangers announced the acquisition of starting pitcher Merrill Kelly from the Diamondbacks for pitching prospects Mitch Bratt, Kohl Drake and David Hagaman. Texas designated first baseman Blaine Crim for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Kelly is the most significant of three deadline pickups for the Rangers. They also deepened their bullpen by adding Phil Maton and Danny Coulombe. The Rangers leaned even harder into their identity as a pitching and defense team after evidently being dissatisfied with the asking prices on top hitters.
The 36-year-old Kelly was arguably the best rental starter who changed hands. He has turned in a 3.22 earned run average through 128 2/3 innings. That comes with a solid 23.5% strikeout percentage and a league average 7.4% walk rate. Kelly doesn’t have massive swing-and-miss stuff, but he’s a plus command artist with a long track record of mid-rotation performance. This will his third sub-4.00 ERA season within the past four years. Last year’s 4.03 earned runs per nine is his worst mark since 2021.
That’s rock solid production that’ll make Kelly a high-end #3 starter in Texas. He’d slot behind Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi as the expected playoff rotation if the Rangers qualify. They have plenty of work to do in that regard — they’re currently tied with Seattle for the final AL Wild Card position — but opponents would have a very tough time scoring against them in October. Patrick Corbin and Jack Leiter figure to round out the starting five for the time being. That could push Kumar Rocker back to Triple-A.
Kelly is playing on a $7MM salary. It’s the final year of what turned out to be a very team-friendly extension that he signed with the Snakes early in the ’22 season. Texas is taking on roughly $2.22MM for the stretch run. They also added around $950K on Coulombe’s deal and picked up roughly $634K on Maton. The Rangers have wanted to stay underneath the $241MM base luxury tax threshold. RosterResource unofficially estimates them around $236M. The actual number is likely to be above that by season’s end as players trigger incentives, but it seems the Rangers at least stayed on the border of the threshold while making a trio of acquisitions on the pitching staff.
Arizona had already dealt Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor as they sold off most of their impending free agents. The biggest question on deadline day was whether they’d trade both Kelly and Zac Gallen. Ultimately, they only found what they considered a satisfactory offer on Kelly. Gallen will finish the season in the desert and quite likely receive and reject a qualifying offer. The D-Backs valued the compensatory draft pick they’d receive in that scenario more than whatever teams were willing to trade for Gallen, who has underperformed this season.
Kelly’s superior year allowed the Snakes to get a trio of minor league arms. They focused their trade returns on upper level young pitching. Drake, a 6’5″ left-hander, is the highest regarded of their new prospects. He placed fifth in the Texas system at MLB Pipeline and ninth at Baseball America. BA feels the former 11th-round pick projects as a multi-inning reliever, while Pipeline projects him as a back-end starter.
Drake has struggled over four Triple-A starts but turned in a 2.44 ERA through 12 appearances in Double-A. He sits around 93 MPH and has a four-pitch mix with advanced command. He’s 24 years old and will need to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He should debut at some point next year at the latest.
Bratt, 22, is a 6’1″ lefty who was selected out of high school in the 2021 draft. The Canadian southpaw has spent the whole season at Double-A Frisco. He has pitched to a 3.18 ERA with a plus 28.5% strikeout percentage and minuscule 4.3% walk rate in 18 appearances. Bratt placed ninth in the system at Pipeline and 14th at Baseball America. He’s a good athlete with above-average to plus command but fringe stuff that could make him a fifth starter. He’ll also need to go on the 40-man roster this offseason.
The 22-year-old Hagaman is a little further off. He was a fourth-round pick out of West Virginia last summer. He underwent Tommy John surgery last year and has been limited to eight professional appearances. Both BA and Pipeline ranked him in the middle third of the Rangers’ top 30 prospects. The 6’4″ righty has an impressive three-pitch arsenal but struggled with command in college. He could be a long-term reliever but will get a chance to develop as a starter.
Arizona’s player development staff now has a lot of young pitching talent with which to work. Most of those players could be on the MLB radar by next season. In the meantime, veteran righty Anthony DeSclafani will stretch out from long relief to take Kelly’s rotation spot (relayed by Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports). He has a 3.86 ERA in 23 1/3 frames and should be a serviceable innings source so the D-Backs don’t need to press their younger arms into early action.
As for Crim, he’ll be placed on waivers in the next few days. The 28-year-old first baseman got a brief look earlier in the season when the Rangers optioned Jake Burger to Triple-A. He went 1-11 with a walk. Crim has a career .283/.374/.487 batting line in more than 1600 plate appearances at the top minor league level.
John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.5 first reported the Rangers were nearing a Kelly deal. ESPN’s Jeff Passan confirmed there was an agreement in place. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that Arizona was acquiring three prospects, including Drake and Hagaman. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic was first on Bratt’s inclusion. Image courtesy of Charles Leclaire, Imagn Images.