The Blue Jays have acquired first baseman Brett Wallace from the Orioles, reports David Hall of the Virginian Pilot (Twitter link). Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports (via Twitter) that the O’s will be receiving cash considerations in return.
This will be Wallace’s second stint with the Blue Jays organization, as Toronto originally acquired him from the A’s in exchange for Michael Taylor, only to flip him to the Astros seven months later, in exchange for Anthony Gose.
Wallace, a former first-round pick and top prospect, has yet to figure it out at the Major League level, though he does have some Triple-A success under his belt. He was having a solid season with Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate in Norfolk, hitting .265/.329/.389 with 10 homers in 374 plate appearances, and overall he owns a career .300/.366/.479 batting line at that level. However, the 27-year-old has batted just .242/.313/.391 in 311 games over parts of four seasons with the Astros.
The Blue Jays likely felt they needed some first base depth after promoting Triple-A first baseman Dan Johnson to fill in for the injured Adam Lind and Edwin Encarnacion.
