The Rangers acquired Triple-A RHP Ben Peoples from the White Sox for Hub City catcher Ben Hartl. The 25-year-old Peoples was drafted by Tampa Bay in the 22nd round of 2019, and after several years as a starting candidate, he was converted to relief in 2025. That July, he was shipped with two others to Chicago for Adrian Houser.
Peoples deals a four-seamer averaging 95.7 MPH, an upper-80s slider and very occasional change. It’s a late-2010s style with an upstairs heater (with so little horizontal movement it’s darn near a cutter) and downstairs bullet-leaning slider. His swinging strike rate (18%) and whiff rate (37%) surpass anyone on the Round Rock roster. On plate appearances concluding with the slider, opponents are hitting .087/.143/.087 with a 47% strikeout rate. He owns a 2.39 ERA with an opposing line of .156/.280/.219 and 45 strikeouts in 37.2 innings for Charlotte.
Given all that, why isn’t he already a big-leaguer? Control, I suspect. Of 193 International League pitchers with 30 innings, he ranks 150th in BB+HBP rate at 14.7%. That puts him in a sizable bucket of pitchers who would find those extra runners coming around to score far more often in the Majors versus AAA. He has trouble landing his fastball in the zone (a common malady in Round Rock, so he’ll fit right in), putting extra pressure on that slider for results and diminishing the usefulness of the change. Oddly, his overall strike rate is fine (62%), and he’s great at getting ahead of hitters (62% first strike), but he’s drifting off course deeper into at-bats. He’s also very fly prone, although the results of those flies have been mild (probably lucky). Peoples might not make the Majors, and might not be any good if he does, but there’s a chance he could help the Rangers in 2026.
Hartl was Texas’s 14th-round pick in 2024 out of Kansas. Prior to Malcolm Moore’s promotion, Hartl played more than three games in a week only once. He’s batted .248/.393/.323, aided by patience and a willingness to get hit. One of every 12 plate appearances has resulted in an HBP. He’s nabbed 32% of would-be stealers in 2026, a terrific percentage in the low minors. He’s a nice guy to have in an organization, but he’s not in Jamey Newberg’s top 72, much less anyone’s top 30, and he strikes me as the type who’d be a serviceable second catcher for Frisco after a while. Hartl played against Chicago’s high-A Winston-Salem squad last week, going 1-for-8 with three walks and four HBPs. Maybe the Sox see untapped potential.
Still, I truly do not understand this from Chicago’s perspective. The surprisingly competitive White Sox clearly do not consider Peoples a part of their immediate or long-term future. Fine. But perhaps Peoples could have been a pot-sweetener in a more significant playoff-push deal, or held just in case he takes a step forward. Best as I can tell, the White Sox stable of catchers surpasses Texas both in quality and depth, so I don’t know what hole Hartl fills.
Texas was already very light on catching in the A levels (partly because of Moore’s promotion an injury to Hickory’s Josh Springer), but, well, who cares. The Rangers can probably sign someone of similar caliber from an indy league if they want. For that matter, so could the Sox. This is not a major deal, and again, not likely to have major consequences, but it’s a nice piece of business by the Rangers.
Texas designated Chris Paddack one day after signing and throwing four innings. I didn’t think he’d be a Ranger long, but this wasn’t what I had in mind. As I mentioned Monday, Paddack’s an Austin native, so maybe he’d be more inclined to accept an outright assignment to Round Rock, where he’d immediately top the list for starting or long-relief reinforcement. He’d be silly not to seek the greenest grass, though.
Utility man Josh Smith is up to replace SS Corey Seager, on the IL again with back trouble.
Hub City righty Caden Scarborough was named to the Futures Game roster.
Box Scores
AAA: Round Rock 9, Albuquerque (COL) 8
Round Rock: 13 hits, 6 walks, 4 strikeouts
Opponent: 10 hits, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts
Record: 5-2, 1 GB, 36-46 overall
SP Spencer Adams: 5 IP, 9 H (3 HR), 6 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 81 P / 54 S, 10.13 ERA
RP Wilian Bormie: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO, 2.08 ERA
2B John Taylor: 2-5, HR (3), BB, .214/.375/.414
C Austin Wynns: 2-3, HR (3), BB
Round Rock trailed from the 2nd until the 8th, when John Taylor smacked a Jordan Romano pitch into the opposing bullpen for a grand slam. Taylor had been fairly quiet during the two-week western road trip, drawing plenty of walks but collecting only four hits in nine games. Wilian Bormie tallied plenty of calls and whiffs with his slider. 
AA: Frisco 7, Midland (ATH) 6
Frisco: 11 hits, 2 walks, 11 strikeouts
Opponent: 9 hits, 5 walks, 18 strikeouts
Record: 4-3, 1 GB, 43-32 overall
SP Aidan Curry: 5.2 IP, 5 H (1 HR), 2 R, 2 BB, 11 SO, 94 P / 54 S, 6.68 ERA
SS Frainyer Chavez: 2-4, HR (12), .309/.412/.505
C Malcolm Moore: 2-3, BB, .293/.375/.512
LF Keith Jones II: 2-3, HR (8), BB, .230/.346/.407
Aidan Curry reached double-digit strikeouts for the first time since 2022 with the rookies. I’m surprised he’d never reached that level in full-season ball so far. He does have five starts with nine strikeouts. In 2024, Curry had a 6.44 ERA in high-A and looked every bit of it. Last year included a spell with the rookies and improvement in high-A but dire control (16% walk rate). In Frisco, he’s walked only 9% of opposing batters. Texas has kept him around because he has the stuff to manhandle hitters in AA and hopefully beyond. 
Hi-A: Hub City 8, at Asheville (HOU) 10
Hub City: 13 hits, 7 walks, 4 strikeouts
Opponent: 12 hits, 7 walks, 3 strikeouts
Record: 4-5, 2 GB, 38-37 overall
SP Enrique Segura: 4 IP, 6 H (2 HR), 7 R, 3 BB, 2 HBP, 0 SO, 77 P / 41 S, 8.02 ERA
LF Yeison Morrobel: 4-6, HR (11), .302/.377/.488
3B Gleider Figuereo: 1-3, 2B, 2 BB, SB (9), .242/.347/.449
DH Antonis Macias: 3-5, 2B, .247/.358/.340
Asheville is already a tough environment, but the Burgers didn’t help themselves by walking seven and hitting two more. Four of those would score. 
Lo-A: Hickory 6, at Myrtle Beach (CHC) 3
Hickory: 5 hits, 7 walks, 7 strikeouts
Opponent: 2 hits, 5 walks, 10 strikeouts
Record: 9-1, 1 G up, 43-31 overall
SP Alejandro Chiquillo: 5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 SO, 63 P / 43 S, 3.09 ERA
RP Luimy Munoz: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 1.88 ERA
LF Paulino Santana: 2-3, HR (8), BB, .257/.384/.417
DH Deward Tovar: 1-4, HR (12), .219/.287/.425
Chiquillo was nearly perfect through five, foiling Pelicans with a mid-90s fastball that touched 98 plus a sweeper.
Today’s Starters
AAA: Gonzales
AA: Townsend
Hi-A: Tiger
Lo-A: Morales
Five Years Ago Yesterday
Frisco’s Jacob Latz was roughed up for a third straight start. I wonder what became of him. Coles Ragans and Winn were named to the Futures Game roster. MiLB announced playoffs would happen after all. In AA and below, the top two teams in each league (irrespective of division) would meet in a best-of-five.
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