Indians acquire prospect Zach Walters in trade with Nationals for Asdrubal Cabrera

The Indians have traded shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera to the Washington Nationals, and the player coming back is prospect Zach Walters.

Walters, a 24-year-old switch hitter, has spent time at shortstop, second base, third base, and left field. He has played in a handful of games for the Nationals, but spent most of the last two seasons with Triple-A Syracuse. This year there, he's hitting .300/.358/.608, with 15 home runs, 5 triples, and 18 doubles in 237 at bats. Those are nice-looking power numbers.

Walters was Arizona's 9th round pick in 2010, but they traded him to Wahsington (for Jason Marquis) at the deadline in 2011. Since then Baseball America ranked Walters among Washington's top 20 prospects during each of the last three offseasons, including a #14 ranking last winter.

Here's a more detailed scouting report from last fall, from Minor League Ball. An excerpt from John Sickels' take on Walters:

He showed a decent batting eye earlier in his career, but he's been more aggressive at higher levels, also serving to boost his power when he gets a hittable pitch, but hampering his on-base abilities.

There's more there on both his bat and is glove.

Walters will almost certainly be assigned to Triple-A Columbus by the Indians. Whether he'll spent his time at one of the many positions he's played, or be used as a super utility player remains to be seen. He looks to be a lesser prospect than James Ramsey, who was acquired yesterday in exchange for Justin Masterson, but he seems to swing a solid bat, and could be ready to help the Indians in 2015, or perhaps even this September.