Rangers Acquire Phil Maton For Skylar Hales, Mason Molina
After acquiring Merrill Kelly from the Diamondbacks and Danny Coulombe from the Twins, the Rangers connected with the Cardinals on a deal that brought reliever Phil Maton into the fold for a pair of minor league pitchers. The two arms in question are righthander Skylar Hales and lefty Mason Molina, the latter of whom is on his third organization since being drafted by Milwaukee in the seventh round of the 2024 draft.
Hales is a reliever who has shown hints of a knockout fastball-slider combination but has suffered due to poor command and control that often leads to loud contact. That issue has come to the fore at Triple-A Round Rock, where he’s allowed four home runs in his first 7.1 innings. Molina works with a full four-pitch complemented by a fastball that averages around 92 mph in games tracked by Synergy Sports. He backs the pitch primarily with a slider and changeup that each sit around 81-82 mph, and he’ll flip in a mid-70s curveball as well.
