My Take: Yankees Acquire Austin Slater
The details:
The Yankees acquire OF Austin Slater from the Chicago White Sox for RHP Gage Ziehl
The Yankees have several objectives at the deadline. Improving the lineup was somewhere on that list, especially at third base. However, Brian Cashman wanted to do more than that: namely, improve the offense against left-handed pitching.
The first move was acquiring Amed Rosario, who instantly earned a hit against a left-handed reliever. Today, they acquired Austin Slater, who (like Rosario) is a rental.
Slater is one of those players who surprises you when you look at their Baseball Reference page. “How has this dude put together a 9-year, 685-game career?” I have never used him in the Immaculate Grid, but this will be his fifth franchise in those nine years. He spent 2017 – June 2024 with the Giants, before being sent to the Reds last July. The Reds then sent him to the Orioles at the deadline. In the off-season, he signed a 1-year deal with the White Sox.
In 51 games with the White Sox this season, he hit .236/.299/.423 (99 OPS+) with five home runs over 135 plate appearances.
The overall numbers aren’t what attracted him to the Yankees. Against LHP, he is hitting .261/.338/.522 in 77 plate appearances. All five of his homers have come against southpaws. This isn’t a fluke, as his career mark is .270/.362/.436 with 30 home runs in 1,006 plate appearances.
Slater doesn’t offer much on the basepaths. Once an efficient basestealer (43-for-47 between 2017 and 2022), he is only 6-for-10 since.
Defensively, he doesn’t kill you. He has been worth +3 OAA in his career. This season, his expected catch percentage is 93% and his actual catch percentage is 94%. Slater can cover all three outfield positions, and even played an inning at first base this year (204 career innings).
What the Yankees Gave Up:
Gage Ziehl was their 4th-round pick in the 2024 draft, signing for an overslot $637,000. Pitching at three levels this year (mostly Tampa with cameos for Hudson Valley and Somerset), he went 5-4 with a 4.15 ERA (3.62 FIP) in 82.1 innings. He owned an impressive 4% walk rate (20.2% K) while generating a 49.6% ground ball rate.
Ranked #14 in the White Sox system by Pipeline after the deal, he owns a fastball/slider/change mix. With his ability to pound the zone and generate some ground balls, the White Sox could have a cheap innings-eater type on their hands in a few years. That is likely as high as his ceiling can get. For a rebuilding team trading a rental piece, it’s a smart trade. It’s similar to when they shipped RHP Keynan Middleton to the Yankees for Juan Carela in 2023.
Bottom Line:
The Yankees are doing what they love to do: Trading pitching prospects to acquire MLB assets. They have traded two 2024 draftees (Ziehl, Griffin Herring) over the past week.
This trade is fine. It shouldn’t excite you. It shouldn’t terrify you. Like with Rosario, it is up to Aaron Boone to use a platoon-advantage player optimally.