The Orioles have looked to a former Cincinnati Red to fill their shortstop void for the second straight year.
Nearly two months after trading Jose Iglesias to the Los Angeles Angels for two minor-league pitchers, Baltimore signed veteran shortstop Freddy Galvis to a one-year contract. The deal is worth $1.5 million and will pay the 31-year-old an additional $250,000 if he’s traded during the 2021 season, according to MLB Network.
Galvis batted .220 with seven home runs, 16 runs batted in, and a .712 on-base plus slugging percentage in 159 plate appearances for the Reds in the abbreviated 2020 season. The Venezuela native owns a career .247 average and .677 OPS in a nine-year career spent with Philadelphia, San Diego, Toronto, and Cincinnati.
The switch-hitting Galvis had a career year at the plate in 2019, batting .260 with 23 homers, 28 doubles, 70 RBIs, and a .734 OPS. The former Phillies prospect has a solid defensive reputation and has been durable for the bulk of his career, playing in at least 147 games per season from 2015-19.
With Iglesias and Hanser Alberto no longer with the Orioles, Galvis appears set to form a double-play tandem with second baseman Yolmer Sanchez, whom Baltimore claimed off waivers from the Chicago White Sox in late October. Sanchez, 28, is a career .245 hitter and won the AL Gold Glove in 2019.
