One of the best times of the year for a baseball fan, the trade deadline, has come and gone. It’s always a blast to see some of the game’s top stars change uniforms at the halfway point of the season and get right to work on their new clubs.
This year, there were many trades made by the time the deadline came around. While there’s an argument to be made that the deadline as a whole was a bit underwhelming, the fact can’t be ignored that there were more trades made this year than ever before. If you want action, this is the time of year for you.
Most of the time, single players are not able to singlehandedly carry a team to the postseason like acquiring teams would like them to. It’s not always as simple as one new arm in the rotation or one new bat in the lineup to make enough of a difference for teams.
However, some of the top names on the move at this year’s deadline immediately began to make an impact on their new teams. The sample size remains small, but starting off on the right foot goes a long way.
Today, we’re going to break down five of the players moved at the deadline that immediately made an impact on their new club.
Five Deadline Acquisitions Immediately Producing on New Teams
Randy Arozarena
Arozarena didn’t feel like a player the Rays would actually move on from at this year’s deadline since he’s controllable and wildly popular down in Tampa Bay. He was moved to the Mariners on July 25 before all hell broke loose, so his sample size is larger than all others on this list.
Arozarena has appeared in nine games for the Mariners post-trade. In that time, he has a hit in six of them and has reached base at least once in eight games. He’s already hit a home run and has shown a newfound eye at the plate, too, getting his tenure in Seattle started on the best foot possible.
Josh Bell
Over the course of his nine-year big league career, Bell has always functioned as a hulking power-hitting first baseman who can hit a ball a long, long way from either side of the plate. He had a 92 OPS+ through 104 games with the Marlins this year before a trade sent him to the Diamondbacks.
Filling in for the injured Christian Walker, Bell has made it into four games for the Snakes, highlighted by a two-homer game where he hit a big fly from each side of the plate in the same contest. He’s a rental that’s only here as an injury replacement, but that’s a pretty solid way to start your time on a new team.
Paul Blackburn
For pitchers, the sample size is tiny at this point, but Blackburn’s first start in a Mets uniform went about as well as anyone could’ve asked it to. The right-hander had long been the best starting pitcher on the A’s (which isn’t necessarily saying much), but was seen as a durable innings-eater who perhaps wasn’t able to shine properly over in Oakland.
In his Mets debut, the 30-year-old put together one of the best post-deadline outings we’ve seen from a pitcher who was moved. He went six innings of one-run ball, striking out six while walking just two. So far, so good.
Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Chisholm was always a bit misunderstood down in Miami. So many mistook his passion and swagger for co*ckiness and laziness. In the Bronx, he has shut down all of that talk. Not only has the 26-year-old hit four home runs through his first seven games on the Yankees, but he’s also taken up a brand new position on defense.
Chisholm made a relatively seamless transition from center field to third base after the trade. While teammate Gleyber Torres threw a fit over the possibility of picking up third base, Chisholm welcomed it with open arms and has performed well over there.
Yusei Kikuchi
In one of the wildest deadline heists of the year, Kikuchi was shipped from Toronto to Houston in exchange for a shocking amount of prospect capital. However, the Astros clearly think they can turn his fortunes around and turn him into the high-octane pitcher they acquired him to be.
Like Blackburn, Kikuchi only has one start under his belt in his new uniform. However, he was utterly dominant in that outing. In his Astros debut against the Rays, the 33-year-old went 5.2 innings of two-run, three-hit ball and promptly struck out 11 batters while walking three. At one point, he struck out eight in a row to tie an Astros record and he also retired 16 of the last 20 batters he faced.
Closing Thoughts
These five players are far from the only ones off to hot starts on their new clubs.
- Eloy Jimenez is 6-for-12 with a double and a pair of runs driven in for the Orioles in his first four games.
- 13-year veteran Martin Perez has a six-inning start of one-run, seven-strikeout ball under his belt already for the Padres.
- Justin Turner has already hit a grand slam in his first five games on the Mariners.
It’s still early and the deadline has only just recently passed, but the returns are looking promising on many of the veterans who were moved.
