New York Yankees Acquire Former Cardinal Outfielder

This season the right-hander is batting .236 with a .299 OBP and five home runs across 135 at-bats. Back in April he landed on the IL for about a month with a right knee meniscus tear, and he was activated from the IL on May 19.

Slater has been mostly used against left-handed pitching, and should be a bit of a bench bat upgrade for the Yankees in that regard. Facing southpaws he's 18-for-69 (.261) with a .338 on-base and all five of his home runs.

Facing right-handers, he's 11-for-54 (.204) with just a .246 on-base.

In exchange for Slater, the Yankees have traded starting pitcher Gage Ziehl, who had been their No. 18 prospect according to MLB Pipeline. The 22-year-old was a fourth round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft and in his first pro season he has made it up to Double-A, though most of his time has been spent in A Ball.

Slater has spent most of his time in the outfield in the corners, though he's had a couple of games in center as well. His arm strength ranks 88th among all players in baseball, and he has a +1 Outs Above Average while playing left field this season. He's generally been a league average defender over the course of his career with the San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles, and most recently the White Sox.

Slater doesn't have enough plate appearances to officially appear on the leaderboard for Statcast data, but his barrel% is at 15.7%, which is among the best in baseball, and he's also ranked near the top in a number of expected and other contact metrics.

Most of his batted balls have traveled to the pull side or up the middle. While he won't get a boost from the dimensions at Yankee Stadium, based off the contact he's made this season, he'd finish with the same number of home runs that he has this year if those batted balls had come in New York. In other words, this won't be like Isaac Paredes going to Houston.

The addition of Slater gives the Yankees a nice bench option against left-handers and another solid glove in the field. The Yankees defense has been talked about a lot of late, but according to Defensive Runs Saved, their outfield unit has been slightly below league average with a -1. The addition of Slater will provide a slight boost there as well.