The Arizona Diamondbacks added minor league outfield depth by acquiring Michael Restovich from the Chicago White Sox for cash on July 27.
Restovich, who has not played in the major leagues since 2007, was hitting .229 for the Charlotte Knights—the White Sox’s Triple-A team—at the time of the transaction. He has hit .222 in three games since then.
The Knights are not losing much. In addition to his .229 batting average, he had 37 strikeouts, a meager .365 slugging percentage and a .282 on-base percentage prior to the move.
Restovich was once a top prospect in the Minnesota Twins organization and in 2000 was rated the 26th best prospect in all of baseball by Baseball America. He came to the major leagues in 2002 and hit .308 in 13 at-bats, giving the big club a taste of what they hoped he would produce.
However, the power-hitting prospect slugged only three home runs in 61 games over three seasons for the Twins and was shipped off. He then spent time with the Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals, finding consistent struggles at the plate.
Save for this season, Restovich has never been a poor minor league hitter—his .284 batting average and 214 home runs can attest to that—however, he has struggled at the major league level, posting a .239 batting average in 152 games.
This was one of the more blasé moves of the past week and may very well end up being completely meaningless. Or, it could become one of those surprise deals that helps totally turn a team around.
But I wouldn’t count on that.
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