Former 'Dad Sardinas Traded by Rangers
Hickory, NC - The Texas Rangers, MLB parent club of the Hickory Crawdads, have acquired right-handed pitcher Yovani Gallardo and cash considerations from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for 2012 'Dads shortstop Luis Sardinas as well as RHP Corey Knebel and minor league RHP Marcos Diplan.
Sardinas, 21, hit .291 with 32 stolen bases, 14 doubles, and 30 RBI while helping to lead the Crawdads to a 74-65 record in 2012. The Venezuela native played in High-A Myrtle Beach and Double-A Frisco in 2013, before playing 60 games for Triple-A Round Rock in 2014. Sardinas made his big league debut with the Rangers on April 20th of last year, batting .261 with 8 RBI in 43 games as the 3rd-youngest player to appear in the majors.
Gallardo, 28, had an 8-11 record with a 3.51 ERA (75 ER/192.1 IP) over 32 starts for Milwaukee in 2014, posting the lowest ERA in any full season in his career, best among Brewers qualifiers. He made his club-record 5th consecutive Opening Day start for the Brewers last season, and in September became the all-time franchise leader in strikeouts, surpassing Ben Sheets.
He is one of 10 MLB pitchers to have made 30-or-more starts in each of the last 6 seasons (2009-14). Gallardo has pitched at least 180.0 innings in each of those years, one of nine MLB pitchers to accomplish that feat and ranks among MLB leaders in that span in wins (12th, 80) and strikeouts (T11th, 1105). A National League All-Star in 2010, he won at least 12 games in 5 straight campaigns from 2009-13.
Milwaukee's second round selection in the 2004 June draft, Gallardo has spent his entire career in the Brewers system and has a career major league record of 89-64, 3.69 with 1226 strikeouts in 214 games/211 starts. He has four seasons of 200+ K's, and ranks fifth in Brewers history in career wins. He owns a career 2.08 ERA (6 ER/26.0 IP) over 5 games/4 starts for Milwaukee in the postseason, pitching for Brewers playoff clubs in both 2008 and 2011.
Gallardo was born in Mexico, but was drafted out of Fort Worth's Trimble Tech High School and still resides in Fort Worth. He will be seeking his first career appearance in Arlington, with a lone outing versus Texas in Milwaukee in 2010.
Knebel, who was acquired by Texas from Detroit in the Joakim Soria trade on July 23, 2014, was 5-1, 2.18 in 34 minor league appearances in the Tigers and Rangers systems last season. He made his major league debut with Detroit last May, and ended the year on the Round Rock disabled list. Diplan, 18, made his professional debut for the Rangers in the Dominican Summer League in 2014, going 7-2, 1.54 in 13 starts.
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