The Texas Rangers, MLB parent club of the Hickory Crawdads, have announced that the club has acquired catcher Jonathan Lucroy and right-handed pitcher Jeremy Jeffress from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for former Crawdads outfielder Lewis Brinson, right-handed pitcher Luis Ortiz, and a player to be named later. “A two-way player who makes our pitching staff better”, said general manager Jon Daniels regarding Lucroy.
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“While it is extremely hard to part with players the caliber of Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress”, Stearns said in a statement, “we are excited to add more young and talented players to the organization as we continue to build toward future winning seasons in Milwaukee”.
Pitcher Jeremy Jeffress is also headed to the Rangers in the deal.
Brinson is a 22-year-old center fielder who Baseball America ranked as the 15th best prospect in baseball before the season started. He is now ranked 30th and 21st, respectively, in all of baseball by those outlets. A 1st round selection by the Rangers in the 2012 June Draft out of Coral Springs High School, Brinson also played 43 games in Hickory in 2014 with a.335 average, 10 home runs, and 28 RBI prior to a mid-season promotion to High-A. To put this year’s production into perspective, Lucroy hit.264/.326/.391 with seven home runs and 43 RBIs in 103 games in 2015 season, although he dealt with injuries all year. He is now ranked 74th and 63rd, respectively, in all of baseball by those outlets.
Ortiz was the 30th overall pick in 2014. He’s struggled a bit this year in Double-A Frisco, logging a 4.08 ERA and 1.36 walks plus hits per innings pitched (WHIP), but has still managed to strike out 34 batters in 39.2 innings pitched, while also bringing his walks-per-nine-innings rate down to a career low of 1.6.
Milwaukee Brewers’ Jonathan Lucroy tips his batting helmet after getting a standing ovation from fans while pinch-hitting during the eighth inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 31, 2016, in Milwaukee.
The Rangers have an AL-high 62 wins after a four-game series sweep of the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals, and a six-game lead over Houston in the AL West.
On his Twitter account after Monday’s deal to the Rangers, Lucroy wrote, “let’s take this bad boy to the ‘ship!
You will always have a special place in our hearts!” In 95 games with the Brewers this season, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette product has slashed 0.299/0.359/0.482 with 13 home runs and 50 runs batted in, earning his second All-Star nod.
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Plus, the 30-year-old Lucroy has a contract with a $5.25 million team option for 2017 and Jeffress won’t be eligible for free agency until 2020.
