Not satisfied with just an ace starting pitcher, the Kansas City Royals added another highly sought after piece in Oakland Athletics super utility man Ben Zobrist Tuesday afternoon.
First reported by Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, the Royals will part with 2013 first round pick Sean Manaea and 25-year old Aaron Brooks.
Source: #Royals getting #Athletics’ Zobrist.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 28, 2015
The Royals who are desperately seeking a return engagement to the World Series add a veteran in Zobrist whose pretty much played every defensive position on the field throughout his career. This season though the Royals developed a high-end need for the super utility man after Alex Gordon went down with an injury in left field while second baseman Omar Infante has whiffed on beach balls. With that said the Royals will more than likely play Zobrist at second and in left field which is where he’s mostly been finding himself this season in Oakland.
Zobrist, a switch hitter has also been producing at the plate hitting .268 with six homers, 20 doubles, more walks (33) than strikeouts (26), and an .801 OPS in 67 games this season.
For the Athletics, Manaea was a first round draft pick for Kansas City back in 2013 and was considered a top-100 pitching prospect heading into this season. Injuries however have limited the 23-year old left hander to just 32 innings this season but is still considered to have plenty of upside as a top of the rotation pitcher down the road.
Meanwhile the 25-year old Brooks has made some appearances at the big league level but has been primarily a starter in Triple-A netting a 3.81 ERA and 189/46 K/BB ratio in 246 total innings this season. Brooks doesn’t have huge upside like Manea however should still be serviceable out of the pen for Oakland.
