Rox acquire Minor Leaguers Frasso, Vidourek for Halvorsen

DENVER -- The Rockies’ Trade Deadline activity began early on Monday with an intradivisional, somewhat like-for-like deal with the Dodgers, with hard-throwing righty reliever Nick Frasso going to Colorado for even harder-throwing righty Seth Halvorsen.

The Rockies also acquired a prospect -- Single-A left-handed-hitting outfielder Landyn Vidourek, the Dodgers’ third-round Draft pick last year and their No. 25 MLB Pipeline prospect at the time of the deal.

TRADE DETAILS
Rockies get: OF Landyn Vidourek, RHP Nick Frasso
Dodgers get: RHP Seth Halvorsen

What are the similarities between Frasso, 27, who has been assigned to Triple-A Albuquerque, and Halvorsen, 26, who began an injury rehab assignment at Albuquerque on Sunday and will join the Dodgers at Triple-A Oklahoma City? It elicited a smile from Rockies president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta.

“Josh [Byrnes, the Rockies’ general manager] brought this up earlier -- I don’t know how many trades there have been in baseball history where both guys threw 100 [mph] the day before,” DePodesta said.

But Frasso and Halvorsen, both of whom are expected to help their respective Major League clubs, are different in a way that intrigues Colorado’s front office. Frasso has an unusual motion that adds deception for the Rockies, who believe pitchers throwing from a multitude of arm angles is a plus.

“It’s a big fastball, gets a lot of swing-and-miss,” DePodesta said. “It’s a very tough angle, especially on right-handed hitters. And he’s got good swing-and-miss on some of his secondary pitches, too.

“He also has a background as a starter, so he’s logged a lot more innings. He’s faced a lot more right- and left-handed hitters as a professional. He has arsenals for both of those.”

A fourth-round Blue Jays pick from Loyola Marymount in 2020, Frasso was traded to the Dodgers in August 2022. After missing the 2024 season because of right labrum surgery, Frasso’s performance last season with Oklahoma City was up-and-down (68 strikeouts to 42 walks in 77 innings).

Frasso has been on the upswing this season – 40 strikeouts to 17 walks in 24 2/3 innings at OKC.

“He’s kind of back to where he was before the injury, so we’ve been asking about him for a while,” said Byrnes, who was a Dodgers assistant GM before joining the Rockies over the winter. “The catch is he’s out of [Minor League] options at the end of the year. That was more palatable to us than the Dodgers.

“He’s very athletic, very deceptive -- mid-to-upper 90s, real secondary pitches [cutter, changeup] behind him. I think he’ll throw more strikes. He starts his fastball in-zone. He threw a lot of strikes before surgery.”

Vidourek, 22, earned third-round billing because of a combination of speed and power from a frame listed at 6-foot-1 and 192 pounds. A star quarterback in football, Vidourek didn’t commit to baseball until he got to the University of Cincinnati, where he was a two-way player. After last year’s Draft, he batted .313 in 16 games at Single-A Rancho Cucamonga. In 59 games at Ontario this season, he batted .170 with six home runs and 24 RBIs. The good and bad are seen in his 49 walks and 99 strikeouts.

“He was probably the most tooled, athletic player in the [2025] Draft -- top of the scale exit velocity, top of the scale speed, arm,” Byrnes said of Vidourek, who was assigned to Single-A Fresno. “He had sort of a breakout year as a junior at Cincinnati.

“Doesn’t chase and strikes out too much, so that was sort of the rub. He’s still in the learning phases of baseball development. It’s clear we’ve got to solve the strikeout issue, but the total package and the other things he can do are high-end.”

In recent days, indications were that the Rockies were receiving inquiries about relievers like Halvorsen (3-4, 4.31 ERA in 75 Major League games over three seasons). The Rockies have control beyond this season for all of their position players and most of their pitchers, so they feel there is value as they attempt to raise the talent level.

“Every position group on our team has been called upon,” DePodesta said. “When you’re in our spot in the standings and you have players that are going to be attractive to other teams, especially ones you control beyond just this season, there’s going to be a lot of interest.”