Was Texas Rangers Trade for MacKenzie Gore Worth it in 2026?

The Texas Rangers shook up their starting rotation and their minor league system in January with the trade for MacKenzie Gore.

The Rangers wanted a left-handed pitcher with what they felt was room to improve and multiple years of control. In return, Texas gave up five Top 30 prospects — infielder Gavin Fien, first baseman Abimelec Ortiz, infielder Devin Fitz-Gerald, pitcher Alejandro Rosario and outfielder Yeremy Cabrera.

So far, the Washington Nationals — who dealt Gore — have gotten one of those prospects to the Majors. But Ortiz was the closest to the Majors so it’s not surprising he got there at a position of need for the Nats. But let’s not assess the deal by what the Rangers gave up. It should be assessed by what the Rangers got in return.

It was a mixed bag of results.

MacKenzie Gore’s Value to Rangers in 2026

With the Nats, Gore never had a winning season. But he had a high strikeout rate coupled with a high walk rate. He had a reputation for taking most of his starts and did that with Texas. No one made more starts than Gore (34) and he even made a couple of short rest.

But he finished the season 8-11 with. 4.58 ERA, with 174 strikeouts and 71 walks in 173 innings. His innings pitched and walked allowed were career highs for a single season. So were the 88 earned runs allowed. In fact, his earned run total has gone up every season. So what influenced that?

His MLB percentile rankings via Statcast were rough. His pitching run value (7, 69th percentile), his fastball run value (10, 85th percentile) and his offspeed run value (4, 83rd percentile) were in the red. His breaking run value (-7, 11th percentile) was well in the blue. That sounds like he had a good season. But his more specific numbers were average.

For one of the best strikeout pitchers in the game, his chase rate (29.9%, 44th percentile), his whiff rate (24.9%, 44th percentile) and strikeout rate (23.2%, 55th percentile) were average to below average. Those are areas where he should be excelling given his make-up.

Let’s look back at last year. His chase rate (29.9%, 44th percentile) was the exact same rate as a. year ago, but it was in the 80th percentile. His strikeout rate (27.2%) was higher and was in the 80th percentile. The big difference was his whiff rate. Last year it was 29.7% and in the 80th percentile.

Gore experienced a 5% drop in his whiff rate, even though his chase rate and strikeout rates were stable. Throw out the percentile rankings. The drop in the whiff rate, when he’s getting hitters to chase and strikeout at the same rate, is the problem.

Gore relied on his four-seam fastball nearly half of the time this season. That pitch averaged 95.3 mph, two miles per hour higher than the average left-hander. He threw his curve 24%, his slider 12% and his change-up 10%. All experienced velocity increases, most by two miles per hour over the left-handed average. Did that tick in velocity make a difference in a lower whiff rate?

Perhaps one change in Gore’s analytics stopped Gore from going from good to great? His whiff rate will be the number to watch in 2027 and could determine whether the Rangers get the value they’re hoping for from their left-hander in his final season of team control. After one season, the Rangers didn’t get enough, especially if the goal in acquiring him was to bolster a playoff r