Nate McLouth Traded to Atlanta Braves

Breaking news in baseball-land. Before the deadline even nears, the Pirates pulled the trigger on selling Nate McLouth at what is admittedly peak value to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for left-handed pitcher Jeff Locke, right-handed pitcher Charlie Morton, and outfielder Gorkys Hernandez.

Top prospect Andrew McCutchen will become the Pirates starting center fielder starting tomorrow.

Nate McLouth broke out last year in a big way. After being a fourth outfielder for his entire career that looked like a guy who could walk, steal, and hit doubles, he beat out Nyjer Morgan for the starting center field job in Pittsburgh.

He then proceeded to shock everyone with amazing productivity, hitting .276/.356/.497 with 23 steals, a league-leading 46 doubles and 26 homers that surprised everyone. He made the All-Star team in his first season as a starter.

It should be noted that the Pirates didn't accept just anyone for McLouth. Two of the players they got back—Hernandez and Locke—ranked in the top ten of Atlanta's stacked farm system.

Morton is a 25 year old right-handed starter that played 16 games for Atlanta last year and didn't fare so well, but is doing very well in AAA so far this year and is seen as Major League ready.

In all, this looks on paper like a good trade for both sides.

Gorkys Hernandez is rated as one of the best center field prospects in all of baseball, but he's expendable to the Braves due to having Jordan Schafer in their system.

Hernandez was named the MVP of the A-level Midwest League in 2007 as a 19 year old, stealing 54 bases as a leadoff hitter and batting .293/.344/.391. His career minor league stats are .293/.350/.400 with 104 steals and 14 homers in four seasons.

He's a wizard with the glove according to scouts, and has a cannon for an arm, racking up 20 outfield assists in his four minor league seasons.

Jeff Locke is another top prospect for the Braves, and is also expendable for them with Tommy Hanson in the system. His stats in the minors don't look great, but his defense-independent statistics are incredible.

Currently a 21-year-old in high-A ball, Locke's stats through four seasons in the minors are a 17-20 record, 4.01 ERA and 1.295 WHIP. That's not great at the low levels; however, a look at DIPS reveals major potential.

Locke has only given up 13 home runs in his career, good for a rate of 0.4 HR/9. He walks 2.5/9 and strikes out almost a batter an inning at 8.7/9, and has a sparkling 3.48 K/BB ratio.

To say that his defense has made him look worse than he is is an understatement. This is not uncommon for strikeout pitchers in the minors, so he has a high chance of panning out.

Scouts say Jeff Locke is the best New Hampshire pitching prospect since Chris Carpenter, and Baseball Prospectus echoes that claim. Unfortunately, he also has injury problems like Carpenter. Hopefully he can pull that together.

Charlie Morton is on the bubble of the top 10 in the Braves system after falling off most lists last year. His brief stint in the Major Leagues are underwhelming, 74.2 IP with 1.17 K/BB ratio, 6.15 ERA and 1.62 WHIP. That's not pretty, especially considering he was working with a pretty decent Braves defense.

However, according to scouts, Morton is on the upswing. He's 25 years old, and his AAA stats so far this year are outstanding. He holds a 7-2 record with a 2.52 ERA, 55 strikeouts as compared to only 16 walks, only 3 homers surrendered and a 3.44 K/BB ratio for the AAA Gwinett Braves.

Certainly impressive.

I look for him to replace the struggling Ian Snell in the rotation some time this season.

I'll admit, there are some slightly puzzling things about this trade.

On the Pirates end, it seems weird that they would be interested in Gorkys Hernandez, as he's basically the same player as Andrew McCutchen, who will be joining the team tomorrow to replace McLouth.

I get that he's a phenomenal player, but if the Braves were offering something of his caliber, they probably could have offered a prospect of equal value at another position as well.

On the Braves' end, it seems equally weird that they would be interested in McLouth. With Jordan Schaffer coming up the pipe for them, and considering they were holding Hernandez before this trade, it seems as though the outfield was a place they'd be set at for a long time.

I'll also admit that I'm absolutely shocked by both ends of this trade.

On the Pirates end, if anything I was expecting Nate McLouth to be held and moved to left. I was expecting a trade of Nyjer Morgan, in all honesty. He's been a very surprising player this year, rating by sabermetric fielding metrics as the best defensive player in all of baseball at any position.

He's also showing new found discipline that he's never had before with an OBP of .356. Perhaps the market for a 28-year-old player with the skillset of Juan Pierre just isn't as strong for that of a Gold Glove center fielder with a dynamic bat.

On the Braves end, quite simply, I'm shocked they would give up so much. Nate is signed to a long-term deal, making him more valuable than a one-year rental, but considering what was in their system, it seems a bit weird of them to give up what they did.

At any rate, this is a big, big trade that's sure to be discussed everywhere from SportsCenter to Baseball Tonight to Baseball Prospectus (by the way, Kevin Goldstein and Keith Law love the return for the Pirates).

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