The Kansas City Royals announced today that they have acquired outfielder Melky Cabrera and cash considerations from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for minor league pitchers Andre Davis and A.J. Puckett.
Cabrera, 32, has spent the last two-plus seasons with the White Sox and is batting .288 with 16 doubles, 13 homers and 56 RBI in 97 games this year. He's also tied for the Major League lead with nine outfield assists this year, while he's tops in the Majors with 21 assists since the start of 2016. He's been hot recently, batting .341 (31-for-91) with six doubles, five homers and 10 RBI during July, which includes a pair of four-hit games, July 15 at Seattle and July 22 at Kauffman Stadium.
Cabrera is in his 13th big league season, which includes 2011 with the Royals, when he set career highs in doubles (44), homers (18), RBI (87) and stolen bases (20). With San Francisco, he was the Most Valuable Player at the 2012 All-Star Game in Kauffman Stadium, then later that year was part of the World Series championship that was won by the Giants. A switch-hitter, he's a career .290 hitter from the left-side, compared to a .277 hitter as a right-handed batter. Among active switch hitters, he's second in career batting average (.286), third in RBI (739) and fourth in runs scored (800), hits (1726) and doubles (331).
Puckett, 22, was the Royals' second-round selection in 2016 and had spent the entire season at Wilmington (A), while Davis, 23, was an eighth-round selection in 2015 and had pitched at Lexington (A) this year.