Braves trade Lucas Harrell and Dario Alvarez to Rangers

During the month of July, Lucas Harrell spent the month building up his trade value with a serious of strong performances on the mound. During these days and around these parts, that puts you in the conversation for a trade, and the Braves have done just that. The AJC’s David O’Brien was the first to report that the Braves had traded Lucas Harrell to the Texas Rangers.

Aside from an awful start against the Rockies on July 15th, Harrell slid into the Braves rotation and pitched pretty well. He compiled an ERA of 3.38 and 3.68 over his five starts, and that’s even with the Colorado start ballooning both of those numbers. He also had a 16.9% K rate and a 9.7% walk rate, which were his best numbers since his 2012 season with the Asros. Clearly, he’s found the form that gave him a 2.8 fWAR with Houston in 2012, and if it keeps up then he’ll be a positive for the Rangers.

Harrell won’t be going to Texas alone — Dario Alvarez was also included in the deal.

Alvarez had a 3.21 ERA over 15 innings and had a 16.8 K/9 and a 45.9% K rate during his time with the Braves. Atlanta had a surplus of lefty relievers, so they could afford to deal from depth here, and Alvarez ends up being the one heading to Arlington.

Meanwhile, the Braves will be receiving 2B prospect Travis Demeritte from the Rangers. Demeritte was Texas’ first round pick (30th overall) in the 2013 draft, but he’s currently playing at the High-A level.

Chances are, we still aren’t going to see Demeritte (who, surprise surprise, is a Georgia native) at the major league level any time soon, but it’s still nice that the Braves were able to get something for Alvarez and Harrell — especially considering that the Braves signed Harrell to a minor league deal on May 21st and only brought him up to the bigs this month.

Here’s video (via Jen Mac Ramos) of Demeritte in action — both on the field and on an aircraft carrier!