The Austin Slater era is over in San Francisco. The longtime Giants outfielder, who was drafted by the club in the 8th round of the MLB Draft in 2014, has been traded to the Cincinnati Reds along with cash considerations for left-handed reliever Alex Young.
Young was immediately optioned to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats.
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He missed 54 games to start this year on the injured list with a lower back injury. Since returning, Young has made three appearances over two innings this season without allowing a run.
Slater, meanwhile, was in the midst of a career-low, .200-hitting season after being one of the Giants' most steady, reliable outfield bats since coming up in 2017. He had a career slash line of .258/.346/.402 coming into the year, but was well below all those figures at .200/.330/.244 this season.
While Slater is not in the stratosphere of a legendary player, he will be fondly remembered by some Giants fan for a mostly solid tenure with the club for the last seven seasons. For the Giants, this move acquires a left-sided reliever they are familiar with who has two more arbitration years remaining. Slater was on the final year of a deal that will send him into free agency at the end of the season.
