Austin Slater said being traded is “always bittersweet.”
The outfielder was dealt twice last season — from the San Francisco Giants to the Cincinnati Reds and then to the Baltimore Orioles. He was on the move again Wednesday after the Chicago White Sox traded him to the New York Yankees for minor-league right-hander Gage Ziehl.
“Really enjoyed my time here and met some incredible people,” Slater said. “Super fun clubhouse to be in. But then, also really excited to go play for the Yankees. One of those teams as a kid you always dream about playing for. And they are right in a race for the playoffs. Excited to go there and try to help them out.”
Slater, who signed a one-year deal with the Sox in the offseason, slashed .236/.299/.423 with six doubles, five home runs, 11 RBIs and 20 runs in 51 games. He missed time after undergoing surgery in April to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee. He went on the IL retroactive to April 11, had the surgery April 15 and returned May 19.
“Unfortunate about the injury; you never want to get injured,” Slater said. “Missed a little more time than I had hoped. But I thought I came in and did my job. Why they signed me was to hit left-handed pitchers and I feel like I’ve done that pretty well this year.
“There’s still room for improvement always, but I’m excited to bring those skills over to the Yankees and continue that trend.”
Slater, 33, has a .261/.338/.522 slash line with five home runs and eight RBIs against left-handers this season.
“Austin was great for us,” Sox manager Will Venable said. “We appreciated all his contributions, certainly on the field and in the clubhouse, especially with our young group to have a veteran presence and a guy with his experience and just a great guy that was willing to put young guys under his arm and really help our group.
“We’re going to miss Austin, but excited for him and his opportunity to play for a contender down the stretch here.”
Slater said last year’s moves helped his family prepare for the possibility of another trade.
“That adjustment period for us was kind of last year. I got traded twice in the same year,” Slater said. “At this point, we’re a little more prepared than we were last year. It was something, there was always writing on the wall that it could happen.”
He leaves a Sox team that he saw growing.
Ziehl, 22, will report to Class A Winston-Salem. He is 5-4 with a 4.15 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 16 games (14 starts) this season for Class A Tampa and Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset.
A fourth-round selection in 2024 out of the University of Miami, Ziehl was ranked by MLB.com as the No. 18 prospect in the Yankees organization.
“We are very excited to add Gage to the system,” Sox director of player development Paul Janish said in a statement. “Our pitching group is excited about his arsenal and his potential to be a starter at the major-league level. Personally, I love his reputation as a fierce competitor.”
With Slater’s departure, the Sox recalled outfielder Will Robertson from Triple-A Charlotte.
The Sox could be active before the 5 p.m. Thursday trade deadline. They made a change for Wednesday’s starter against the Philadelphia Phillies, going with Tyler Alexander instead of Adrian Houser, who has been mentioned in trade speculation.
“With Houser, we were transparent with him, just the market around him and the potential for a trade,” Venable said. “Just thought it was in everyone’s best interest to switch starters today.”
