Tigers trade Carson Kelly to Rangers

The Texas Rangers acquired catcher Carson Kelly from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for catcher Liam Hicks and right-hander Tyler Owens, both teams announced Sunday.

Kelly is enjoying a bounce-back season as the Tigers' starting catcher. In 60 games this year, he's hitting .240/.325/.391 with seven homers and 29 RBIs, making this his best offensive season since 2021. Kelly's also been solid defensively, throwing out 18 would-be base-stealers while also collecting one catcher framing run.

The 30-year-old owns a lifetime .683 OPS with 52 homers and 199 RBIs across nine big-league seasons with three teams. Kelly will become a free agent after this season.

Dealing Kelly potentially opens the door for Dillon Dingler, one of the Tigers' top prospects, to be promoted to the majors. Dingler owns a .938 OPS with 17 homers at Triple-A this year and has enjoyed a red-hot July at the plate.

Kelly should boost a Rangers catching corps that's struggling this season. Jonah Heim's in the midst of a down year offensively, while backup Andrew Knizner is hitting .167/.183/.211. Texas catchers have put up a collective .596 OPS this year, ranking 27th out of 30 teams.

The Rangers are trying to get back to the playoffs so they can defend their 2023 World Series title after a slow start to this season. After being swept in Toronto over the weekend, Texas sits 4 1/2 games back of Houston and Seattle in the AL West and six games back of the final wild-card spot.

Hicks, 25, was the Rangers' ninth-round selection out of Arkansas State in 2021. The Canadian catcher is hitting .260/.364/.353 with four homers and 33 RBIs across 80 games with Double-A Frisco this season, and he won the Arizona Fall League batting title last fall.

Owens, 23, has worked exclusively as a reliever this year. In 26 appearances with Frisco, he's sporting a 2.80 ERA and 1.19 WHIP along with 35 strikeouts and eight saves.