The Milwaukee Brewers acquired first baseman Rowdy Tellez from the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday in exchange for right-handed pitchers Trevor Richards and Bowden Francis.
Tellez, who bats left-handed, is hitting .209 with four home runs and eight RBIs in 50 games for the Blue Jays at the major league level this season. Tellez, 26, is currently in Triple-A and is hitting .298 with four home runs and 11 RBIs in Trenton.
His best season came in 2019 when he set career highs with 21 home runs and 54 RBIs. For his career, he has a .241 batting average, 37 home runs and 99 RBIs in 219 games.
Tellez was added to the active roster for Wednesday's series finale against the New York Mets.
"This is a player who has consistently put the bat on the ball and he's consistently hit the ball hard -- those are two pretty good attributes for major league hitters,'' Brewers general manager David Stearns said. "He has a long track record of success in the minor leagues. He got off to a little bit of a slow start this year at the major league level. We think the underlying ingredients are pretty sound. We think he should be able to perform at the major league level. He's going to get a shot.''
The first-place Brewers acquired the 28-year-old Richards, along with Willy Adames, in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays in May. He is 3-0 with a 3.20 ERA in 15 appearances with Milwaukee since the trade.
Francis, 25, is 7-3 with a 3.62 ERA in 11 starts at two levels in the Brewers' minor league system this season.
The Brewers needed some help at first base with Daniel Vogelbach on the injured list due to a strained left hamstring. Vogelbach isn't expected to return until August.
Keston Hiura, who opened the season as the Brewers' starting first baseman, is batting .161 and already has been sent to the minors twice this season. Hiura showed signs of progress during the Brewers' recent 11-game winning streak, but he has gone 0-for-7 with six strikeouts over his last two games.
Stearns said the search for a Vogelbach replacement was complicated by the calendar. Teams are preparing for the amateur draft, which starts Sunday, while trying to figure out if they are contenders ahead of the July 30 trade deadline.
"We explored a number of different options, a number of different players,'' Stearns said. "We're certainly pleased we were able to find a match.''
Richards will help out in the bullpen for the Blue Jays, who entered Tuesday four games out of the AL's second wild-card spot.
"You can pitch him in some big spots,'' Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "He got out of some jams for us. He did a really nice job.''
The Associated Press contributed to this report.