The Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates teamed up on a minor move today sending infielder Justin Sellers to Chicago in exchange for a player to be named later. The deal was first reported by Devan Fink. Sellers was purchased from the Indians by the Pirates in October of last year.
Sellers, 29, has battled an Achilles injury all season but has managed to play 16 games hitting .288/.339/.308, but in 13 Triple-A plate appearances he is just 1-10 with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. In his last significant minor league action he hit .254/.307/.335 in 395 plate appearances for the Indians Triple-A affiliate in Columbus.
His only significant big league action was his rookie year in 2011 for the Dodgers where he hit just .203/.283/.301 with a 64 OPS+. Since then he has managed to pick up 148 plate appearances for the Dodgers and Indians hitting just .194/.278/.287 with a 59 OPS+. Overall in the big leagues he is a .198/.280/.294 hitter in 287 plate appearances and 99 games.
Despite his offensive struggles Sellers has managed to play pretty good defense with a DRS of +3 at shortstop and a 2.6 UZR in 441 innings. He also has great numbers at third base, albeit a smaller sample size, he has a DRS of +2 with a 2.1 UZR in 70 innings and a 38.8 UZR/150. His numbers at second base, however, with a -.2 UZR and -2.4 UZR/150 in 112.2 innings.
The addition of Sellers most likely serves as organizational depth for the White Sox but he could serve as an extra option in-case of an injury or if the White Sox continue to get lackluster production from veteran shortstop Alexei Ramirez and with Micah Johnson landing on the disabled list today the move makes sense from a depth standpoint.