Rangers send down Logan O’Hoppe

The 26-year-old backstop will get his first chance to show the Rangers what he can do after being picked up in a deadline deal from the Angels. O’Hoppe has hit just .209/.271/.295 with four homers and 23 RBI in 256 plate appearances at the MLB level this season.

The trade is now official. O’Hoppe heads to Triple-A Round Rock as additional catching depth for the Rangers behind veteran starter Elias Díaz. The 26-year-old has struggled mightily at the dish over the last two seasons following a 20-homer breakout campaign back in 2024. He also grades out as a below-average defender behind the plate. This feels like more of a long-term play for Texas than an immediate impact, but they didn’t really give up a whole lot to bring in a backstop from a division rival that they’re extremely familiar with.

So it begins. It’s an extremely rare interdivisional trade between longtime rivals with the Rangers shoring up their catching situation while also adding an interesting middle relief arm for the stretch run. O’Hoppe has struggled at the dish each of the last two seasons, but launched 20 homers during his age-24 breakthrough season back in 2024. A former starter, Silseth has excelled in a low-leverage relief role this season with a strong 2.72 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 48/22 K/BB ratio across 39 2/3 innings of work. The Angels are probably going to receive a couple low-level prospects in the deal as they begin selling off pieces ahead of next week’s deadline.

O’Hoppe missed Saturday’s game after exiting Friday with a head injury, but the 26-year-old is good to go for the finale against Boston.

O’Hoppe was forced to leave Friday’s game when he took a foul ball off the helmet. He’ll sit with Tyler Heineman handling catching duties and hitting Sonny Gray and the Boston staff.

O’Hoppe seemed dazed afterwards and was being evaluated for a concussion. If he goes back on the IL, the Angels will likely recall Logan Porter from Triple-A.

O’Hoppe had a pretty good two-week stretch in mid-June, but other than that, it’s been a miserable season to date. He’s batting .228/.290/.333 through 208 plate appearances. If he doesn’t really turn things around these next three months, the Angels might have to move on from him this winter.

O’Hoppe’s three-run homer extended the Angels lead to 10-4, and a solo homer by Nolan Schanuel would make it 11-4 an inning later. They did not win. O’Hoppe also singled twice to help improve his slash to a still-disappointing .244/.315/.369 with four homers on the campaign.

Jose Siri won the game by singling in automatic runner Nick Madrigal in the 10th. O’Hoppe’s homer off Peter Lambert was just his third in 45 games this season. The fractured wrist he suffered in April seems to have sapped his power, but it might be coming around now; since Monday, four of his five balls in play have been hit hard (not counting tonight’s sac bunt). Tonight’s homer left the bat at 107.7 mph and was projected at 423 feet.

O’Hoppe is back behind the plate after sitting out a pair of contests over the weekend. The 26-year-old backstop was held out for precautionary reasons after being hit in the head during a home-plate collision during last Friday’s contest against the Rangers. The positive news is that he cleared concussion protocol and didn’t suffer a serious injury on the play.