The Red Sox acquired outfielder Abraham Almonte from the Brewers in exchange for cash this afternoon, according to an announcement from Milwaukee. The switch-hitting outfielder had been on a minor league deal with the Brew Crew. He won’t occupy a spot on the Sox’s 40-man roster at this time, and his transactions tracker at MLB.com indicates he’s been assigned to their Triple-A affiliate in Worcester.
Almonte is trying to earn a big league opportunity for what would be his tenth consecutive year. He broke into the majors in 2013 with the Mariners, and he’s bounced around the league as a depth outfielder for the past decade. Almonte has never played in more than 82 games in any major league season, but he’s suited up with each of the Mariners, Padres, Indians, Royals, Diamondbacks and Braves at the highest level.
In just over 1300 career plate appearances, Almonte owns a .234/.302/.374 line. He hit .216/.331/.399 across 175 plate appearances with Atlanta last year before the Braves outrighted him off their roster in August. The 33-year-old has had an excellent season with Milwaukee’s top affiliate, mashing at a .293/.380/.533 clip with 11 home runs and a robust 11.7% walk percentage through 48 games in Nashville.
Almonte has some center field experience early in his career, but he’s worked exclusively in the corner outfield and at designated hitter this year. Boston hasn’t gotten much production at either corner outfield spot. Alex Verdugo has underwhelmed in left, while Boston’s right fielders (primarily Jackie Bradley Jr., Rob Refsnyder and Christian Arroyo) have combined for a league-worst .196/.259/.319 showing. Almonte will add some experienced non-roster depth to the upper levels of the farm system.