The Kansas City Royals acquired Ben Zobrist from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for minor league pitchers Aaron Brooks and Sean Manaea.
Zobrist was selected by the Houston Astros in the 6th round of the MLB Draft in 2004. He made his debut with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2006 and played for them for 9 seasons before being dealt to the Athletics before the start of the 2015 season.
Zobrist has seen Major League experience at every position except pitcher and catcher. He has more than 200 career games at second base, right field, and shortstop. This season, he has spent most of his time at second base and left field.
The Royals lost left fielder Alex Gordon to injury and their second baseman, Omar Infante, is only hitting .230 with an OPS of .559. Zobrist can fill in for either of them and boost the Royals’ lineup. Zobrist is hitting .264 with an OPS of .784.
Zobrist went on the disabled list with a tear of the meniscus in his left knee on April 25 and came back on May 25. Because of this, it took him a while to get back on track. He has been hitting well of late, with a .292 average and .810 OPS in July.
The Royals are making moves with the intention of winning the World Series this year. Last year, they lost in game 7 to the San Francisco Giants. They have upgraded their rotation with the addition of Johnny Cueto and now they have bolstered their depth with Zobrist. They are going to be a hard team to beat in the playoffs this season.
The Athletics, on the other hand, are in the midst of a fire sale. They are tied with the Boston Red Sox for the worst record in the American League and they have now made 3 trades involving starters in return for prospects. They started by sending starting pitcher Scott Kazmir to the Houston Astros, then they traded closer Tyler Clippard to the New York Mets, and now Zobrist.
Statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com.
