White Sox acquire veteran OF from Brewers

The White Sox acquired veteran outfielder Tyler Naquin from the Brewers in exchange for cash, the teams announced. Naquin will head to the White Sox’s Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte and is expected to be in the Knights lineup Tuesday, tweets Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Naquin, 32, was eligible to be traded by virtue of the fact that he hasn’t been on a 40-man roster or major league injured list at any point this season. He signed a minor league pact with Milwaukee back in March and has spent the entire season to date with its Triple-A affiliate in Nashville. The seven-year big league veteran has slashed .284/.333/.432 with six homers in 160 plate appearances this season. He’s been on and off the active roster a few times due to injury — most recently some minor shoulder troubles.

A first-round pick back in 2012, Naquin made his big league debut in 2016 with Cleveland. He’s logged major league time each season since, also making stops in Cincinnati and Queens, hitting at a .264/.318/.444 clip in 1,811 MLB plate appearances. Naquin has experience in center field but is better suited to play a corner. He’s a left-handed hitter who’s been held to a meager .210/.272/.339 slash against lefties but has tagged righties for a much heartier .274/.326/.468 slash in his career.

While Naquin won’t immediately jump onto Chicago’s big league roster, the uncertain state of the South Siders outfield could get him a look at some point. Top prospect Oscar Colas struggled considerably in right field early in the season before being optioned to Triple-A, and he hasn’t improved in a month since his recall. Dating back to July 4, Colas has hit .229/.253/.289 with a 29.9% strikeout rate and 3.4% walk rate in 87 plate appearances. The White Sox do have some outfield alternatives in Triple-A who are already on the 40-man roster — Clint Frazier, Adam Haseley — but both have been in the minors for more than a month now.

If the Sox ultimately feel there’s no spot on the big league roster for Naquin, they could still trade him a second time this month. They’d likely only pick up cash in return, as is common in post-deadline swaps of this nature.