The Baltimore Orioles filled a gap in their home field by agreeing on Tuesday with free agent Freddy Galvis on a $ 1.5 million one-year contract.
Galvis broke into the big leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2012 and spent the last two years with the Cincinnati Reds. The 31-year-old reached 0.220 with seven homers and 16 RBIs during the shortened 2020 season for the pandemic.
Galvis is expected to replace Jose Iglesias as the Baltimore shortstop, which was negotiated with the Los Angeles Angels in December. Galvis played 33 shortstop games last season and 16 on second base.
He will receive an award bonus of $ 250,000 the first time he is traded.
Galvis earned a $ 5.5 million salary last season – the optional year of his previous contract – which ended up in $ 2,037,037 prorated during the shortened season.
Galvis has a career hitting average of 0.247, with 95 home runs and 386 RBIs. A newsboy headed to his fifth major league team, Galvis started with the Phillies, made a one-year break with the San Diego Padres in 2018 and played with the Toronto Blue Jays before joining Cincinnati during the 2019 season.
His best offensive season was in 2019, when he hit 23 home runs with 70 RBIs.
Baltimore hired him mainly for his ability to play skillfully in the middle of the infield. He has a field percentage of 0.984 as a shortstop in 801 games.