The Milwaukee Brewers decided to shop at the Baltimore Orioles' fire sale, picking up a personal favorite of mine in second baseman Jonathan Schoop, and trading one of their top pitching prospects in return -- which gives the Orioles one of their better trade outcomes of this month.
Jonathan Schoop's year to date has been a huge disappointment, with a .273 OBP that's down 65 points from last year, thanks to a drop in his walk rate by nearly half. He still has plus power, plays above-average defense at second base, and has generally been better against southpaws last year and so far in 2018. That fits the Brewers' lefty-heavy infield quite well, allowing him to fill in at second or third instead of Mike Moustakas or Travis Shaw (or first baseman Eric Thames, with Shaw perhaps taking over at first). There's some upside left in Schoop given what he showed last year, and the possibility that the change of scenery will help him rediscover some modicum of patience at the plate if only to get himself into better counts.
The Orioles got back one of the best prospects they've acquired this month in this deal, right-hander Luis Ortiz, a former first-round pick of the Rangers who has now been traded twice since he was drafted in 2014. Ortiz is a strike-thrower with a power arm, throwing up to 94-95 mph with fastball and complemented with a plus changeup and fringy breaking ball. He has allowed just 91 unintentional walks in 323? career pro innings, and was posting a strong 6.3 percent walk rate in Double-A Biloxi this year.
The Orioles also picked up Jonathan Villar, who had a tremendous year in 2016 that he hasn't repeated. He has some sneaky power and can play all over the infield.
