Trade Central: Braves Acquire Ehire Adrianza from Nationals For Trey Harris

Image credit: Ehire Adrianza (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Since the injury to Ozzie Albies the Braves have been in need of infield depth. On Monday they addressed that need, sending outfielder Trey Harris to the Nationals for Ehire Adrianza, a utility infielder that played 109 games for the Braves last season. The Braves are three games back of the Mets in the National League East and sit atop the NL wild card race.

BRAVES ACQUIRE

Ehire Adrianza, INF
Age: 32

A year after he spent most of the season on the Braves big league roster as a utilityman, Atlanta has brought Adrianza back for a second stint with the club. A long-time veteran, Adrianza has played in the majors in parts of 10 seasons dating back to 2013. He made his major league debut as a 23-year-old with the Giants but didn’t see significant playing time at the big league level until 2018. Adrianza has topped 200 at-bats just twice in his big league career. Adrianza has primarily been a part-time player filling in at a variety of roles across the diamond. He’s logged time at all four infield spots, all three outfield spots and three innings as a pitcher. With Robinson Cano designated for assignment to clear space for Adrianza, he should slide into the backup second base role behind starter Orlando Arcia.

NATIONALS ACQUIRE

Trey Harris, OF
Age: 26

A 32nd-round pick in 2018 out of Missouri, Harris was one of the Braves’ star performers in Class A. He hit .331/.405/.507 while striking out just 15.3% of the time in stops at Low-A Rome and High-A Brevard County. He was promoted to Double-A in mid-July of 2019 and was solid over 41 games hitting .281/.318/.411. Harris has been unable to match that production since the pandemic. Harris has repeated Double-A for the past two seasons and seen his numbers drop across the board. His average exit velocity and launch angle average have dropped each of the last two seasons when compared to 2019, his contact rate has shrunk over that time while his zone miss has jumped. It’s possible with a change of scenery that Harris recaptures some of his previous form. With just fringe foot speed and range, Harris is limited to an outfield corner defensively, and he’s struggled to hit for enough power to profile in a corner.