On the heels of the news that Kevin Kiermaier has been placed on the DL after suffering a fractured hip Thursday night, the Tampa Bay Rays announced that they have acquired infielder Taylor Featherston from the Phillies in exchange for cash considerations. In doing so, they also announced that INF/1B Rickie Weeks has been placed on the 10-day disabled list with a right shoulder impingement, while SS Matt Duffy has been placed on the 60-day DL to make room for Featherston on the 40-man roster. At the time of writing it isn’t certain whether the move is backdated to the start of the season, or whether the 60-day clock starts now.
The #Rays have announced the following roster moves. pic.twitter.com/t4Q3Mpzclf
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 9, 2017
The 27 year-old infielder — who can play first, second and third base as well as left field — was not on Philadelphia’s 40-man roster, rather he was with the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate in LeHigh Valley. His acquisition will provide bench depth as the Rays are now without Brad Miller and Weeks.
Originally out of the Rockies organization, Featherson was a 2015 Rule-5 draft pick by the Angels and has spent parts of two seasons in the big leagues. While the defensively gifted utility player accrued a +10 DRS between 2B, 3B, and SS over 477-1/3 career innings of defense, he’s struggled to an unsightly .156 BA/.207 OBP/.233 SLG/.450 OPS slash line over 197 plate appearances.
He, however, was off to a considerably better start at Triple-A, slashing .270 BA/.370 OBP/.394 SLG/.764 OPS with three homers and eight doubles. He’s also a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts.
As Daniel Russell (DRaysBay) pointed out, Featherson earned a pretty favorable writeup by FanGraphs:
Featherston is that typical grinder baseball rat type, though he has a little more size and athleticism than you may expect at 6’1/185 with average raw power, and above average arm and solid average speed. The power plays down in games due to a more line-drive type approach and there’s some awkwardness to his actions, but Featherston fits the bill of under-appreciated utility guy that might surprise people and be a little more.