The Minnesota Twins announced today that they have acquired infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa and minor league right-handed pitcher Ronny Henriquez from the Texas Rangers in exchange for catcher Mitch Garver.
Kiner-Falefa batted .271 (172-for-635) with 25 doubles, three triples, eight home runs, 53 RBI, 74 runs scored, 28 walks, a .312 on-base percentage and a .670 OPS in 158 games for the Rangers last season. He led Texas in games played, hits, triples (tied), stolen bases (20), multi-hit games (44), and three-plus hit games (16) as the club’s primary shortstop and finished with career highs in several offensive categories including home runs, RBI, and stolen bases. He also had the highest batting average among Rangers’ qualifiers, while leading Major League Baseball with 136 singles.
The 5’11”, 190-pound infielder has appeared in 392 career major league games, all with the Rangers, hitting .265 (372-for-1404) with 59 doubles, nine triples, 16 home runs, 118 RBI, 168 runs scored, 84 walks, a .316 on-base percentage and a .670 OPS. The Honolulu, Hawaii native was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the fourth round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Mid-Pacific Institute High School in Honolulu.
The 26-year-old won the 2020 Rawlings American League Gold Glove Award at third base, along with the Rangers 2020 Player of the Year Award, as voted on by the Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He transitioned to shortstop in 2021 and posted a .972 fielding pct. (19 E/669 TC) at the position, leading major league shortstops in total chances (669), assists (436) and double plays turned (98). Kiner-Falefa also ranked tied for third among MLB shortstops with 10 defensive runs saved, per The Fielding Bible, trailing only Houston’s Carlos Correa (20) and Minnesota’s Andrelton Simmons (15).
Henriquez, 21, was signed by the Rangers as an international free agent on July 2, 2017 and has gone 16-13 with a 3.85 ERA (233.2 IP, 100 ER), 60 walks, 283 strikeouts, a .233 opponent batting average and a 1.14 WHIP in 53 career games (46 starts), all in the Texas minor league system. He earned a pair of All-Star honors in 2018, as a Dominican Summer League Midseason All-Star with the DSL Rangers2 and as a Baseball America DSL All-Star. The Bonao, Dominican Republic native split the 2021 minor league season between High-A Hickory and Double-A Frisco, going 5-7 with a 4.71 ERA (93.2 IP, 49 ER), 25 walks, 105 strikeouts, a .220 opponent batting average and a 1.10 WHIP in 21 games (16 starts), and ranked seventh among Texas minor leaguers in strikeouts.
Garver, 31, made his major league debut for the Twins in 2017 and hit .256 (240-for-938) with 52 doubles, six triples, 53 home runs, 154 RBI, 150 runs scored, 114 walks, a .341 on-base percentage and an .835 OPS in 310 career games, all with Minnesota. He won a Silver Slugger Award at catcher in 2019 and ranks fourth in Twins history (1961-present) in home runs among catchers.
(info courtesy of Twins)