Brewers swing deal for slugger Carlos Santana (source)
MILWAUKEE — The Brewers didn’t wait till Tuesday’s Trade Deadline so as to add the bat they’ve been purchasing for, they usually discovered it throughout the division.
Milwaukee acquired 37-year-old switch-hitter Carlos Santana from the Pirates on Thursday forward of a weekend matchup in Atlanta in opposition to the MLB-leading Braves, a supply advised MLB.com, in alternate for 18-year-old shortstop prospect Jhonny Severino, one in every of Milwaukee’s two seven-figure International signees in 2022. The golf equipment haven’t confirmed the commerce.
Santana has posted a sub-.750 OPS yearly since hitting 34 homers with a .911 OPS for Cleveland in 2019, however he’s a former All-Star and Silver Slugger who will enhance the Brewers’ already elite protection, and he provides some pop to a lineup that might use it. With the Pirates this season, Santana was slashing .235/.321/.412 with 12 dwelling runs and 53 RBIs in 94 video games, together with a booming, walk-off dwelling run in opposition to Matt Bush and the Brewers on June 30 at PNC Park that was adopted by a jaunty dance at dwelling plate.
The Brewers may use Santana’s protection and his bat at first base, with Rowdy Tellez combating by accidents and a droop this season, and now on the injured checklist till the second half of August whereas recovering from a freak harm to his left ring finger. Utility man Owen Miller has performed a lot of the innings at first for Milwaukee with Tellez sidelined, however Miller has one dwelling run and a .535 OPS because the begin of June.
As a crew, the Brewers rank twenty fifth of 30 MLB groups in wRC+ (88), an all-around measure of offensive manufacturing, and twenty sixth with 4.11 runs per sport. They have scored greater than 4 runs solely as soon as in 12 video games because the All-Star break, profitable as an alternative with a stable pitching workers and one in every of baseball’s finest defenses — so good that GM Matt Arnold mentioned this week he was reticent so as to add a run producer to the detriment of run prevention.
Severino, 18, is a 6-foot-1, 185 pound shortstop from Santo Domingo within the Dominican Republic who signed with Milwaukee for $1.23 million in January 2022. After enjoying at Milwaukee’s Dominican complicated final yr, he got here stateside this season and has an .871 OPS by his first 52 plate appearances within the Arizona Complex League.
Severino didn’t rank amongst MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 Brewers prospects, however he was the Twenty first-ranked prospect in his worldwide signing class and is very regarded throughout the Brewers’ system. Milwaukee’s latest Draft class included a pair of extremely rated highschool infielders, third-round decide Eric Bitonti and sixth-round decide Cooper Pratt, whom the Brewers signed for about $1 million over slot apiece — one issue within the membership’s willingness to half with a younger shortstop like Severino.
