The Pittsburgh Pirates today acquired outfielder Jaff Decker (first name pronounced Jeff) and right-handed pitcher Miles Mikolas from the San Diego Padres in exchange for minor league outfielder Alex Dickerson. The announcement was made by Pirates Senior Vice President, General Manager Neal Huntington.
Decker, who was San Diego’s supplemental first round selection (42nd pick overall) in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft, hit .286 (100-for-350) with 23 doubles, 10 home runs and 40 RBI in 105 games with Triple-A Tucson in 2013. He also went 4-for-26 with a homer and two RBI in 13 games with the Padres, making his Major League debut against the Dodgers on June 20 and hitting his first big league home run off Jhoulys Chacin on August 12 at Colorado.
The 23-year-old Decker was the MVP of the Arizona League during his first professional season in 2008 and was named the Class-A Player-of-the-Year by Baseball America in 2009 after batting .299 and leading the Midwest League in OBP (.442) and OPS (.956). In his six minor league seasons, the left-handed hitting Decker has hit .268 with 106 doubles, 13 triples, 71 home runs and 304 RBI in 529 games.
Mikolas spent a majority of the 2013 season with Tucson, where he posted a 4-2 record, 26 saves and a 3.25 ERA (61.0ip/22er) in 54 relief appearances. His 26 saves ranked third in Pacific Coast League. Mikolas also pitched 1.2 scoreless innings while making two appearances with the Padres in 2013.
Originally selected by San Diego in the seventh round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft, the 25-year-old Mikolas made his Major League debut with the Padres in 2012 and went 2-1 with a 3.62 ERA (32.1ip/13er) in 25 big league games that season.
Dickerson, 23, was named the Eastern League Rookie-of-the-Year in 2013 after hitting .288 with 17 home runs and 68 RBI in 126 games with Altoona. He was Pittsburgh’s third round selection in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft.
To make room on the 40-man roster for Decker and Mikolas, outfielder/first baseman Garrett Jones and right-handed pitcher Kyle McPherson have been designated for assignment.
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