Texas Rangers gets OF Robbie Grossman back in trade with Chicago White Sox in exchange for Minor League RHP Anthony Hoopii-tuionetoa

By J.Y. Mortimer

Robbie Grossman with Chicago White Sox, in dugout with teammates in game vs. Minnesota, 5 1 2024 (courtesy IMAGN, photo by Matt Marton, USA Today Sports)

Fixture on Rangers’ 2023 World Series championship club returns

5 8 2024

 

Oakland, Calif. — The Texas Rangers today announced that the club has acquired outfielder Robbie Grossman from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for minor league right-handed pitcher Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa (pronounced hoo-OH-pee two-EE-oh-NEE-toe-ah).

To make room for Grossman on the 40-man roster, left-handed pitcher Kolton Ingram has been designated for assignment. The Rangers will make an additional transaction to accommodate Grossman on the active roster when he reports to the club.

Grossman, 34, has spent this season with the White Sox, batting .211/.329/.268/.597 (15-71) with no home runs and 4 RBI. The switch-hitter has gone 6-for-16 (.375) with 2 doubles, 4 walks, and 4 strikeouts against left-handed pitchers in 2024. Last year, Grossman batted .309/.416/.536/.952 (34-110) with 5 home runs, 10 doubles, and 23 walks/32 strikeouts against left-handed pitching, posting the 3rd-highest on-base percentage and 6th-highest OPS figure vs. lefties in the American League (minimum 100 PA vs. LHP). The veteran is a career .283 hitter against left-handed pitching with an .810 OPS.

Grossman has made 19 starts for the White Sox this season in right field (10), left field (5), and designated hitter (1). Last year with the Rangers, he slashed.238/.340/.394/.734 (84-353) with 10 home runs, 23 doubles, and 49 RBI over 115 games in his first season with Texas. He started 99 of the team’s 162 games in left field (39), designated hitter (36), and right field (24). He drew walks in 13.6% (57 of 420) of his plate appearances for the season and appeared in 7 games during the Rangers’ postseason run to the 2023 World Series title.

The 12-year MLB veteran has a career .243 batting average with 90 home runs and 419 RBI over 1151 games with Houston (2013-15), Minnesota (2016-18), Oakland (2019-20), Detroit (2021-22), Texas (2023), and Chicago-AL (2024).

Hoopii-Tuionetoa has gone 1-0 with one save and a 0.00 ERA (1 R-0 ER/12.1 IP) over 10 relief appearances for Frisco (AA) this season in his first career Double-A action. The Hawaii native has spent his entire professional career in the Texas organization since being selected in the 30th round of the 2019 MLB Draft.

Ingram was acquired by the Rangers from the New York Mets in a waiver claim on April 24 and assigned to Triple-A Round Rock. He has thrown 2.0 scoreless innings in relief for the Express since joining the Texas organization. The Rangers have seven days to trade, release or outright Ingram to the minor leagues.

With these transactions, Texas remains at the 40-man limit on the club’s Major League roster, along with six players on the 60-day Injured List: Brock Burke, Carson Coleman, Jacob deGrom, Justin Foscue, Josh Jung, and Tyler Mahle.

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