Yankees, Brewers Complete Trade For Erik Kratz

The Yankees acquired another infielder for their system on Saturday, receiving minor league infielder Wendell Rijo from the Brewers to complete the trade for catcher Erik Kratz last month.

The Yankees traded Kratz to the Brewers on May 25 for a player to be named later. Kratz has three homers in seven games since joining Milwaukee.

Yankees acquire:

Wendell Rijo, 2B
Age: 22

Rijo signed for $575,000 and was a three-time Top 30 prospect in the Red Sox’s system before plateauing once he hit Double-A. He hit .186 at Double-A Portland in 2016, went to Milwaukee in the Aaron Hill trade, and has hit .185 and .200 at Double-A the last two seasons while bouncing back and forth between the level and high Class A. Rijo plays a solid second base and has experience at shortstop and third base as well. Rijo does a decent job controlling the strike-zone, but the lack of impact in his bat makes him an organizational player.

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Mark Payton, Jake Cronenworth, Alec Bohm and Erik Kratz homered in consecutive innings.

Brewers acquire:

Erik Kratz, C
Age: 38

The Brewers are the eighth team in five years for the journeyman Kratz. The Brewers acquired him to be the backup to Manny Pina, designating for assignment previous backup Jett Bandy. Kratz has produced out of the gate, hitting .385 (10-for-26) in his first seven games as a Brewer. With Pina struggling (.212, .615 OPS), Kratz has a chance to earn more playing time if he can keep up his hot start.