The following is a press release from the Texas Rangers:
Arlington, Texas — The Texas Rangers today announced that the club has acquired right-handed pitcher Dane Dunning and left-handed pitcher Avery Weems from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for right-handed pitcher Lance Lynn.
Dunning, who will turn 26 on December 20, made his Major League debut with the White Sox in 2020, going 2-0 with a 3.97 ERA (15 ER/34.0 IP) over 7 games/starts with 13 walks, 35 strikeouts, and a 1.118 WHIP figure. He averaged 9.3 strikeouts per 9 innings and held opponents to a slash line of .197/.282/.315/.597 over two stints in the Majors: August 19 and August 30-end of season. Dunning also made one postseason appearance, briefly starting Chicago-AL’s decisive Game 3 loss at Oakland in the American League Wild Card round (0.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R).
Originally selected by the Nationals in the first round (29th overall) of the 2016 June draft, he was acquired by Chicago-AL in a December 7, 2016 trade involving Lucas Giolito and Adam Eaton. Dunning has recently been ranked as a top White Sox prospect by Baseball America (4), MLB.com (5), FanGraphs (5), and Baseball Prospectus (5). He was also rated by Baseball America as the no. 95 overall prospect in baseball entering 2020. A native of the Jacksonville, Fla. area, Dunning was drafted out of the University of Florida, where his three seasons were capped with berths in the College World Series in both 2015 and 2016.
The 23-year-old Weems did not see official game action in 2020, as he was never in the White Sox’ 60-man player pool, although he did participate in the club’s fall instructional league camp in Arizona. Entering 2021, Weems has been rated as a top White Sox prospect by Baseball Prospectus (10) and Baseball America (24). He combined to go 5-4 with a 2.09 ERA (14 ER/60.1 IP) over 14 games/starts in his only professional action to date with a pair of Rookie-level affiliates in 2019: AZL White Sox and Great Falls of the Pioneer League. He averaged 11.0 strikeouts per 9 innings last year, along with a 1.044 WHIP figure and opponent slash line of .235/.279/.283/.562.
Weems was originally selected by Chicago-AL in the sixth round of the 2019 June draft. The Flagstaff native spent his junior and senior seasons at the University of Arizona prior to being drafted.
Lynn went 6-3 with a 3.32 ERA over 13 games/starts for Texas in 2020, and he was selected Rangers Pitcher of the Year by the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Lynn combined for a 22-14 record and 3.57 ERA over 46 games/starts in his two seasons with the Rangers, receiving votes in American League Cy Young Award balloting in both 2019 and 2020.
Only Dunning is added to the Rangers’ 40-man roster following the trade, as there are still 38 players on the club’s Major League roster.
