White Sox Trade for OF Nomar Maraza; Rangers Get Prospect Walker Steele

The Chicago White Sox made a move while MLB was thrown into a tizzy after ace Gerrit Cole agreed to a record-setting nine-year, $324 million deal with the New York Yankees.

The team announced late Tuesday night that they had acquired right fielder Nomar Mazara through a trade with the Texas Rangers in exchange for Class A outfielder Steele Walker:

Per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times, Sox manager Rick Renteria spoke highly of Mazara on Tuesday.

"He's obviously a powerful man," he said. "He's 6'4" but he looks like he's 7-foot every time I see him in the box. Runs extremely well for a big guy. Can defend. Good arm. Brings a lot of qualities to the plate. Can pop one in the seats as quickly as anybody."

General manager Rick Hahn provided a statement once the trade was finalized, per The Athletic's James Fegan: "At just 24 years old, Nomar provides us with a left-handed-hitting right fielder who fits into our current team's development arc and who still has untapped potential. Nomar adds yet another young, exciting bat with upside to our lineup."

Mazara had been linked to the White Sox during the winter meetings in San Diego with The Athletic's Jim Bowden disclosing earlier Tuesday that Chicago was "working hard" to get him.

Before that, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News had reported in late July that the White Sox were "watching" Mazara ahead of last season's trade deadline.

The 24-year-old posted a .268/.318/.469 slash line with 19 home runs and 66 RBI across 116 games for the Rangers in 2019. Since entering the league in 2016, Mazara has hit .261/.320/.435 with 79 home runs and 308 RBI. All four seasons were with the Rangers.

Mazara has played 214 of his 244 games the last two seasons in right field. Chicago's only other right fielder on the roster is 28-year-old Leury Garcia, who primarily played in center field last season.

The White Sox have already signed catcher Yasmani Grandal and re-signed first baseman Jose Abreu.