Only a few hours after Braves officials left what had been a trade-less Winter Meetings for them, they finalized a trade that sent Braves pitching prospects Tyrell Jenkins and lefty reliever Brady Feigl to the Rangers for hard-throwing right-handed reliever Luke Jackson.
Jackson, a former first-round draft pick, can reach 100 mph with his fastball but still needs to improve his control before he can realize his potential at the big-league level. But the Braves were looking for big-armed relievers with a lot of potential, and Jackson, 25, undoubtedly fits the bill.
The Fort Lauderdale native had a 3.69 ERA with 59 strikeouts and 32 walks in 46 1/3 innings in 36 appearances in 2016 at Double-A and Triple-A. In major league stints over the past seasons he had an 8.50 ERA with nine strikeouts, 10 walks and five home runs allowed in 18 innings, including four homers allowed in 11 2/3 innings in 2016.
The Braves traded for a position of strength, starting-pitching depth, sending Texas native Jenkins, 24, to the Rangers along with Feigl, who’ll be 26 on Dec. 27 and missed big parts of the past two seasons recovering from Tommy John elbow surgery.
Jenkins was a solid prospect but didn’t figure to have much chance of cracking the rotation in 2016 after the Braves added three veteran starters this offseason.
Jenkins was the 50th pick in the 2010 draft, selected by the Cardinals five spots after Jackson was picked by the Rangers. Jenkins was 2-4 with a 5.88 ERA in 14 games (eight starts) for the Braves as a rookie in 2016, allowing 55 hits and totaling more walks (33) than strikeouts (26) in 52 innings.
Jenkins came from the Cardinals along with Shelby Miller in a November 2014 trade for Jason Heyward.
Feigl signed with the Braves as a non-drafted free agent in 2013 and had a 2.74 ERA in 45 career minor-league appearances, with 66 strikeouts and only 16 walks and two homers allowed in 72 1/3 innings. He had Tommy John surgery in April 2015 and pitched in just six games at the rookie-ball level in 2016, working six scoreless innings with six strikeouts and one walk.
