The White Sox and Rangers agreed to a one-for-one trade of minor leaguers, as first reported by Brooke Fletcher of Chicago Sports Network. Chicago sends Triple-A reliever Ben Peoples to Texas in exchange for High-A catcher Ben Hartl. Neither player has appeared in MLB, nor do they occupy spots on the 40-man roster.
Peoples, 25, was one of three players whom the Sox acquired from the Rays last summer in the Adrian Houser trade. Infielder Curtis Mead headlined that deal, but the former top prospect continued to struggle late last season. The Sox pushed Mead off the roster out of camp and traded him to the Nationals, where he has hit his way to the starting third base job.
A 6’1″ righty, Peoples was a 22nd-round pick out of high school in 2019. He spent a few seasons as a starter but has worked fully in relief over the past two years. Peoples has a 2.92 earned run average across parts of two seasons in Triple-A. That includes a 2.39 mark with an excellent 30% strikeout rate this season, but Peoples has walked 14% of opponents. He has a standard fastball-slider middle relief profile, sitting 96 mph with the heater.
The lackluster command has been an issue throughout his career. James Fegan of FanGraphs slotted Peoples 33rd in the Sox farm system over the offseason, though he went unselected in last winter’s Rule 5 draft. Peoples will qualify for minor league free agency this offseason if Texas doesn’t add him to the 40-man roster. He has reeled off 11 1/3 frames of three-run ball with 13 strikeouts in Triple-A this month and could get a look for a Texas bullpen that has a 4.64 ERA in June.
Hartl, an Illinois native, is a 23-year-old whom Texas drafted in the 14th round in 2024. A University of Kansas product, he’s a right-handed hitter and has a .218/.369/.317 line with three home runs across 130 plate appearances. He has thrown out 12 of 38 attempted basestealers. Hartl has never appeared among Baseball America’s or FanGraphs’ writeup of the Texas farm system. Fletcher notes that he overlapped with Sox rookie left fielder Sam Antonacci at Heartland Community College in 2023 before playing his final collegiate season with the Jayhawks.
