Blue Jays acquire Giovanny Urshela from the Indians

The Toronto Blue Jays acquired infielder Giovanny Urshela from the Cleveland Indians in exchange for cash considerations or a player to be named later.

The move was announced yesterday by the ball club as General Manager Ross Atkins once again swung a deal with his former employer to land Giovanny Urshela. The 26-year old just concluded a rehab assignment for a hamstring injury that saw the out of options infielder sidelined since spring training.

Urshela who is predominately a third baseman played 67 games at the major league level with the Indians last season. He hit .224/.262/.288 with 35 hits and a homer in 165 plate appearances for the tribe. He sports a career .225/.273/.314 with seven round-trippers in 148 career games between two season at the MLB level.

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Urshela will provide the Blue Jays with some organizational depth and is known as an above average defender. In 11 rehab games with the Triple-A Columbus Clippers, the native of Columbia hit .324/.405/.432 with 12 hits in 42 plate appearances. In 827 career minor league games Urshela is hitting .279 with 70 homers and 16 stolen bases.

According to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, Urshela will join the Jays once he gets his work visa sorted out. With infielders Troy Tulowitzki and Aledmys Diaz on the shelf with injuries and the demotion of Devon Travis, the Blue Jays are spread a little thin on the infield.

The Jays have been forced to call-up of rookies Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Richard Urena to fill the infield void. Urshela has played 140 games at the hot corner but also played shortstop (5 games), second base (5 games) and first base (2 games) at the MLB level albeit in small sample sizes.

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This looks to be another low-cost addition that could provide manager John Gibbons with additional versatility when constructing his defensive alignments. As we have witnessed early on in the 2018 campaign, you can never have too much depth.