Brewers acquire infielder Villar from Astros in trade
One day after dealing closer Francisco Rodriguez, new Milwaukee Brewers general manager David Stearns has made another deal -- and this time for a player he is very familiar with.
The Brewers acquired infielder Jonathan Villar from the Houston Astros, where Stearns worked before becoming Milwaukee's GM, for right-handed pitcher Cy Sneed. The Brewers added Villar to their 40-man roster.
Villar was primarily a shortstop with the Astros -- who now have Rookie of the Year Carlos Correa at that position -- although he did play 12 games at third base, five in left field, three at second base and two in center field for Houston in 2015.
In 198 career major-league games, all with Houston, Villar has a .236 batting average, .300 on-base percentage and .353 slugging percentage. Last season he had 128 plate appearances in 53 games with Houston, with a slash line of 284/339/414. He has a career .944 fielding percentage at shortstop, well below the league average of .973.
Sneed, a third-round pick of Milwaukee in 2014 who turned 23 on Oct. 1, pitched last season for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Brevard County, both Class A teams. In 26 games (24 starts), he had a 2.58 ERA and 1.127 WHIP while striking out 7.9 per nine innings while walking only 1.8 per nine innings.