Trade Deadline: Orioles Acquire Infielder from Royals

The Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals help kick off the countdown to MLB’s trade deadline, completing a deal on Saturday

Now within the calendar month of the MLB trade deadline, the Baltimore Orioles have completed a trade with the Kansas City Royals. On Saturday afternoon, both teams reported that the Orioles had acquired infielder Kelvin Gutierrez from the Royals in exchange for cash considerations.

Gutierrez, 26, has three years of major league experience, primarily at third base. He originally broke into Major League Baseball as an international signing of the Washington Nationals in 2013, later being traded to the Kansas City Royals in a deal for relief pitcher Kelvin Herrera. Gutierrez only logged about six weeks of play for the Royals this season, having been recalled from AAA Omaha on May 14th and designed for assignment on June 28th. Gutierrez struggled over that span, slashing .215/.254/.296 with a career-worst 4.2% walk rate.

According to Baseball Savant’s batted ball profile comparison tool, Kelvin Gutierrez’s profile is comparable to White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson. Although it’d be unfair to expect Gutierrez to play up to the level of Anderson, having a player with a similar skillset in the organizational infield depth is an encouraging outcome for this deal.

Gutierrez has logged innings at third base, shortstop, and first base in his minor league career. With Maikel Franco‘s recent ankle injury and Freddy Galvis projected to be out for an extended period of time with a quadriceps injury, Gutierrez fits in well to relieve the Orioles’ current dilemma. However, for now, Gutierrez will be joining Baltimore’s AAA affiliate, the Norfolk Tides.

Across his major league career, Gutierrez has played in 48 games, posting an OPS of .583 in 194 career plate appearances. The Baltimore Orioles will hope Gutierrez can rebound from his rough start with a change of scenery.