Orioles acquire Brallan PÃ©rez from Rangers

By Roch Kubatko

Orioles

August 05, 2017, 9:16am

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The Orioles moved more international signing bonus slots in an attempt to improve their depth at the minor league level.

Infielder Brallan PÃ©rez, 21, has been acquired from the Rangers for the bonus slots and assigned to Single-A Frederick. The team made the announcement early this afternoon.

Orioles bags.jpg PÃ©rez, a native of Colombia, is a career .292/.388/.354 hitter in 274 games over five minor league seasons. He's played at three levels this season, mostly at Single-A Down East, where he hit .234/.309/.266 in 46 games.

PÃ©rez also batted .359/.407/.449 in 21 games at low Single-A Hickory and went 0-for-5 at Triple-A Round Rock.

An organization-wide concern about a lack of shortstops and second basemen in the farm system continues to be addressed since spring training.

"The Orioles have been working to add middle infielders over the last few months and PÃ©rez is one of several talented middle infielders to recently join the organization," executive vice president Dan Duquette wrote in a text message.

"He is young, has solid defensive skills at second base and shortstop, good speed, excellent plate discipline and contact skills. He puts the bat on the ball and as he matures if he gets stronger, our people believe he can contribute at the major league level."

The Orioles added pitcher Yefry Ramirez from the Yankees last week for international signing bonus slots. They took a similar route to add pitchers Paul Fry, Damien Magnifico, Matt Wotherspoon and Jason Wheeler and infielder Milton Ramos, among others, and sent slots to Philadelphia in the Jeremy Hellickson deal with the Phillies.