DFA’d reliever Grant Anderson has been traded to the Milwaukee Brewers
The Texas Rangers have traded pitcher Grant Anderson to the Milwaukee Brewers for minor league pitcher Mason Molina, it was announced yesterday.
Anderson, a Texas native who was acquired by the Rangers in exchange for DFA’d reliever Connor Sadzeck back in 2019, was designated for assignment earlier this week to make room on the 40 man roster for Joc Pederson. Anderson put up a 6.35 ERA in 62.1 IP over 49 appearances for Texas over the previous two seasons.
In acquiring Molina for Anderson, the Rangers have gotten a better return that I would have expected. Molina was Milwaukee’s 7th round pick in the 2024 Draft, and was the #147 prospect on BA’s pre-draft board. He spent two seasons pitching for Texas Tech before transferring to the University of Arkansas for his junior season.
Molina was a relatively young draftee for a college junior, as he doesn’t turn 22 until July of 2025. He has what BA described in their pre-draft writeup as “a solid four-pitch mix,” but doesn’t throw hard and needs to improve his command significantly. My guess is that he will start the 2025 season in the rotation at Hickory (which, as a reminder, will be a low-A affiliate again), and the Rangers will see what improvements he can make.
In a kind of interesting note, the Brewers designated pitcher Tyler Jay for assignment to make room for Anderson. Jay was one of the players the Rangers were reportedly considering taking at #4 overall in 2015, when they ended up selecting Dillon Tate. Jay went 6th overall to the Minnesota Twins but couldn’t stay healthy or pitch effectively, never making it above AA before ultimately being released by the Cincinnati Reds in 2020 before summer camp started.
Jay didn’t pitch professionally in 2020 or 2021 before making a comeback in 2022, when he pitched in the Indy Frontier League. He returned to Indy Ball in 2023 and ended up being signed out of the Frontier League by the New York Mets, and finally made it to the big leagues in 2024 for New York. The Mets traded him to Milwaukee last summer for T.J. Shook, which is how the Brewers ended up with him.