PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates today acquired infielder Yamaico Navarro from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for minor league pitcher Brooks Pounders and infielder Diego Goris.
The Pirates will announce a corresponding roster move on Thursday to make room for Navarro on the 40-man roster.
Navarro, 24, hit .264 with 11 doubles, seven home runs and 22 RBI in 59 games in 2011 between Triple-A Pawtucket and Omaha. He also appeared in 22 Major League games (16 with Boston and six with Kansas City), where he hit for a .250 batting average with a homer and nine RBI.
Navarro was signed by Boston as a non-drafted free agent in 2005 and made his big league debut with Red Sox on August 20, 2010. Navarro profiles as a utility infielder and will fill the void of Pedro Ciriaco, who was designated for assignment today. In Navarro’s Major League career, he has made 20 appearances at third base, 19 at shortstop and three at second base.
Navarro entered the 2011 season ranked by Baseball America as Boston’s 12th-best prospect and was a mid-season South Atlantic League All-Star while playing with Greenville in 2008 and a New York-Penn League mid-season All-Star while playing with Lowell in 2007.
In six minor league seasons, Navarro has produced a .279 batting average, a .348 OBP, 100 doubles, 20 triples, 43 home runs and 264 RBI in 470 games.
Pounders, 21, went 5-5 with a 3.68 ERA over 36 appearances (one start) with Low-A West Virginia in 2011. He walked 14 while striking out 72 over 66.0 innings. Pounders was selected by Pittsburgh in the 2nd round of the 2009 draft.
Goris, 20, batted .350 with 53 runs, 20 doubles, four triples, five home runs, 46 RBI and 15 stolen bases over 68 games with the DSL Pirates in 2011.
Photo credit: Yahoo! Sports
Discussion about this post