Texas Rangers Pass on Dillon Tate, Land All-Star in 2015 MLB Draft Rewind

With the No. 4 overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, the Texas Rangers selected pitcher Dillon Tate out of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Always in need of pitching help, the Rangers thought they had a long-term solution for their rotation with the talented righty. He was the first hurler off the board that year, being selected after three positional players.

Dansby Swanson went first overall to the Arizona Diamondbacks, followed by Alex Bregman to the Houston Astros and Brendan Rodgers to the Colorado Rockies.

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Tate was a unanimous top 100 prospect ahead of the 2016 campaign, but his star quickly faded after that. He wasn’t on any top prospect lists again despite not making his Major League debut until July 29, 2019.

He never pitched in the Big Leagues with the Rangers, being traded to the New York Yankees, along with Nick Green and Erik Swanson, in exchange for Carlos Beltran ahead of the 2016 MLB trade deadline.

Tate was traded a second time before reaching the Majors, this time being sent from the Yankees to the Baltimore Orioles, along with Cody Carroll and Josh Rogers, in exchange for Zach Britton.

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He hasn’t come close to living up to the expectations of a fourth overall pick, owning a career bWAR of 2.1. Tate has made 195 appearances in the Big Leagues, all as a reliever, owning a 4.11 ERA across 211 innings.

It should come as no surprise that in the re-draft of the 2015 class, David Schoenfield of ESPN has Texas heading in a different direction with their selection.

Instead of Tate, they come away with Swanson, who drops three spots with Bregman going first, right fielder Kyle Tucker going second and Austin Riley going third.

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Swanson has had a solid MLB career, making the National League All-Star Team twice and winning two Gold Glove Awards.

He was a key contributor to the Atlanta Braves team that won the World Series in 2021 and cashed in as a free agent, agreeing to a massive seven year, $177 million deal with the Chicago Cubs ahead of the 2023 campaign.

Swanson has been worth about 2.6 bWAR per year in his career, certainly a solid producer despite falling a bit short of expectations of a No. 1 overall pick.

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