The Astros sent one major leaguer and two prospects to Atlanta: pitchers Mike Foltynewicz and Andrew Thurman, and third baseman Rio Ruiz. Meanwhile, Atlanta gave up the aforementioned Gattis (pictured) and minor league reliever James Hoyt.

Gattis, who has played at catcher and left field for Atlanta the past two seasons, is expected to be the everyday left fielder for Houston.  Last year he hit .263 with 22 HR and 52 RBI for Atlanta.

Gattis could also play some catcher and first base in reserve roles, backing up Jason Castro and Jon Singleton.

"This is probably not the last of these types of deals," Astros GM Jeff Luhnow told MLB.com. "We have a very good system, even after this trade, and we have two Draft picks in the top five coming up in this year's Draft. We're going to continue to have a very strong pipeline, and how we turn that pipeline into Major League wins is going to be a big key to our success going forward -- in this case, turning three good players into Evan Gattis, and in other cases bringing the players up and letting them play in Houston. We're really going to have to really do both paths and do them well."

George Springer and Dexter Fowler are expected to team with Gattis to form the Astros outfield in 2015. Spring Training starts in about five weeks in Florida for both Houston and Atlanta.

 

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