The Minnesota Twins have dealt third baseman Gio Urshela to the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for right-handed pitching prospect Alejandro Hidalgo, the teams announced Friday.
Urshela, 31, is coming off a 2022 season for the Twins in which he slashed .285/.338/.429 (121 OPS+) with 13 home runs and 27 doubles in 144 games. For his career, he owns an OPS+ of 104 across parts of seven big-league seasons, a plurality of which came with the New York Yankees, and has generally graded out as a plus fielder at third. The Twins originally acquired Urshela from New York as part of the five-player trade in March that also sent Gary Sánchez to Minnesota and Josh Donaldson and Isiah-Kiner Falefa to the Yankees. Urshela is arbitration-eligible this winter and is eligible for free agency after the upcoming 2023 season.
The Angels have third baseman Anthony Rendon under contract through the 2026 season. However, Rendon has had much trouble staying healthy over the last two seasons, and at age 32 perhaps lessened defensive responsibilities may help him reduce his injury risk moving forward. It's also possible the Angels have a multi-positional role in mind for Urshela.
On the Twins' side of things, the 19-year-old Hidalgo in two minor-league seasons has a 4.64 ERA and and 3.18 K/BB ratio in 66 innings (16 starts and one relief appearance) with 58 strikeouts and 19 walks. This past season, he pitched in the High-A California League, which is an extreme hitter's league. MLB.com ranked Hidalgo as the No. 22 prospect in the Angels' system.
