The 32-year-old Puerto Rican professional baseball catcher has been traded to the Houston Astros by the Chicago Cubs.
In exchange, the Cubs will receive utility man Tony Kemp.
The move for Kemp fills a hole the Cubs have had since they traded Tommy La Stella to the Angels over the winter.
“Our position player group has felt a little short,” Hoyer said. “We’ve lacked the depth of at-bats recently. That was something we were looking to restore at the deadline.”
Kemp has a less than 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and his contact rate has never been below 82%.
“Our swing-and-miss rates are too high,” Hoyer said. “Finding a guy that put the ball in play, that’s really important for us. It’s something we’ve lacked, especially coming off the bench.”
In addition to the Cubs, the Golden Glove Award winner has previously played in MLBfor the Milwaukee Brewers, the Los Angeles Angels and the Kansas City Royals.
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