Rays trade Badenhop to Brewers

The Tampa Bay Rays have traded right-handed relief pitcher Burke Badenhop to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for minor league outfielder Raul Mondesi Jr.

The 2012 season was Badenhop’s first with the Rays and first full year in the majors.  The 29-year-old went 3-2 with a career-best 3.03 ERA (62.1-IP, 21-ER) and made a career-high 66 appearances.  From May 1 through season’s end, he compiled a 2.24 ERA (52.1-IP, 13-ER) over 56 outings.  Badenhop yielded only 12 walks and recorded 42 strikeouts.  He crafted a 1.53 ERA (29.1-IP, 5-ER) at Tropicana Field.  The Rays acquired him from the Miami Marlins on December 12, 2011 in exchange for minor league catcher Jake Jefferies.

Mondesi Jr., 20, spent the 2012 campaign with Rookie-level Helena of the Pioneer League and played right field and center field.  In 68 games played, he hit .231 (63-for-273) with five home runs, 32 RBI, 12 doubles, six triples and eight stolen bases.  The right-handed hitter signed with the Brewers on June 23, 2010 out of the Dominican Republic.  His father, Raul Mondesi, hit 271 home runs over 13 major league seasons from 1993 to 2005.  He was the 1994 National League Rookie of the Year, a 1995 NL All-Star and a two-time NL Rawlings Gold Glove Award-winning outfielder.