On Friday, the Arizona Diamondbacks acquired 19-year-old minor league shortstop Domingo Leyba from the Detroit Tigers.
Leyba comes to Arizona as part of a three-team deal that also sent Shane Greene to the Tigers from the New York Yankees and Didi Gregorius from the D-backs to New York.
Originally, Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal reported that pitcher Robbie Ray was the key player headed to Arizona in the deal:
However, Ben Badler of Baseball America indicates that Leyba is the man the Diamondbacks will bring into the fold:
Bernie Pleskoff of MLBPipeline.com praised Leyba:
The switch-hitting Dominican infielder has yet to make his major league debut, but he's already shown that he can be a force at the plate. In 67 games in the minor leagues, Leyba has a batting average of .323 and an on-base percentage of .360.
In 30 games with the Tigers' West Michigan Single-A team, Leyba hit .397 with seven RBI. He has had a few issues in the field. He committed six errors in 68 games, which isn't that bad considering he's still playing in the low-level minors.
Leyba could be a year or so away from reaching the big leagues, but Arizona now has depth at shortstop in the organization. Per Pleskoff, there's also the option of moving him to second base.
Chris Owings is only 23 years old, and he hit .261 in 2014 in 91 games. He could get the first shot at playing every day in 2015.
Switch-hitter Cliff Pennington could push his way into a platoon system.
In the long term, both could just be keeping the position warm for Leyba when he's ready for majors.
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