GLENDALE, Ariz. — If I tell you the Rangers traded five prospects, including their most recent first-round pick, the 12th overall selection in the 2025 draft, for a pitcher who went 5-15 with an ERA over 4.00 last season in Washington, your natural reaction is to ask when the Cowboys go to training camp this summer.
But what if I tell you they just traded for Clayton Kershaw? Or at least a 2.0 version who, sure, might not be quite the same thing, but is as close as they could get to the Dallas native and Hall of Fame-bound pitcher they pursued several times at the end of his career? Not such a bad idea, is it?
Gore’s three shutout innings against the Chicago White Sox on Friday fall short of Kershaw’s three Cy Young Awards, but it’s all the information we can gather in the heat (yes, heat, 91 degrees) of an Arizona February.
But here are the three reasons the Rangers love Gore.
Rangers
Newly acquired Texas Rangers starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore is introduced to the media by Rangers President of Baseball Operations Chris Young (left) and General Manager Ross Fenstermaker during a press conference at Globe Life Field in Arlington, January 29, 2026.
Tom Fox / Staff Photographer
He’s left-handed. And Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker are not. “We needed a left-handed starter to break up the righties that we already had in the rotation,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “You try to line up different arm slots or angles each weekend or each series, you’re trying to give teams different looks.”
He strikes people out. He was third in the National League in strikeouts at the All-Star break last year. He was the second-youngest to 500 strikeouts among active starting pitchers. And he’s the trivia answer to the question of who’s the only Ranger to play in last year’s All-Star Game. The Rangers’ representative was deGrom, but he did not pitch, while Gore enjoyed a 1-2-3 inning. “He has the elite stuff that he can strike out double digits every game,” Schumaker said. “The problem is you get into the high pitch counts doing that, and you’re out in five innings.”
And he has the pedigree. Gore was the third overall pick, taken by the San Diego Padres in the 2017 draft. Schumaker and quality control coach Rod Barajas were in the Padres’ organization as Gore — slowly — began the development process.
“There was a lot of pressure on this kid, third overall pick, he didn’t get off to, like, this unbelievable start early in his career. There was a lot of pressure, you know, to be the next Kershaw just because he’s left-handed and athletic or whatever,” Schumaker said. “If he’s just MacKenzie Gore, he’s going to be really, really good. And that’s what he wants to be.
Texas Rangers pitcher MacKenzie Gore delivers during the first inning of a spring training game against the Colorado Rockies at Surprise Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, in Surprise, Ariz.
Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer
“MacKenzie is a No. 1 in the making, probably not right now on this team because of Evo (Nathan Eovaldi) and Jacob, but you have a young star pitcher like that, really just starting his career and being at the top of a rotation on a team that’s trying to win this whole thing. I think it’s going to be not only great for us but great for him.’’
Gore turned 27 this week, but he has already made 102 major league starts. So while the Rangers‘ Rocker is still struggling to emerge from prospect status, he’s all of nine months younger than Gore. Jack Leiter, who had his first full major league season in 2025, is a year and two months younger than Gore.
And when the top of your rotation is 36 (Eovaldi) and 37 (deGrom), it’s not the worst idea in the world to have an ace-in-waiting, which is exactly what the Rangers hope they plucked from Washington. I have to admit they also had high hopes when another Nats’ lefty, Patrick Corbin, got here last season. It’s almost a miracle the Rangers managed to lead the majors with a 3.47 ERA, given that Corbin threw up a 4.40 over 30 starts.
At the very least, Gore stands as an upgrade to that. And without much in the way of luck, he can start making inroads on that top-of-the-rotation spot while watching two of the best.
“Being around these guys is going to be great. They’ve been getting people out for a long time,” Gore said.
Having been part of the package that went from San Diego to Washington for Juan Soto, Gore flipped the switch when he became the 5-for-1 target of the Rangers this winter.
“Umm, yeah, it’s just the way the game works sometimes,” Gore said. “It just kind of flew by, and here we are.”
And here comes the Rangers’ rotation — obviously needing a roll of the dice on the health front but, beyond that, potentially better than the group that ranked No. 1 year ago.
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