A's acquire George Kottaras from Brewers

The A's have achieved an upgrade at catcher by trading for Milwaukee's George Kottaras, CBSSports.com Insider Jon Heyman reports.

By Dayn Perry

Jul 28, 2012 at 4:18 pm ET • 1 min read

George Kottaras is bound for Oakland. (Getty Images)

The A's have acquired catcher George Kottaras from the Brewers, CBSSports.com Insider Jon Heyman reports. The Brewers had designated Kottaras for assignment on Thursday.

The 29-year-old career backup is batting .209/.406/.360 this season and is a career .221/.326/.402 hitter in four-plus seasons. While Kottaras's batting average leaves much to be desired, he does draw walks and provide some left-handed gap pop on occasion.

The A's have struggled to get output from the position all season, as Oakland catchers -- chiefly Kurt Suzuki and Derek Norris -- have combined for a terrible slash line of .198/.250/.269. The average major-league catcher, meanwhile, is batting .249/.316/.401 in 2012.

In other words, Kottaras figures to provide the A's with a substantial upgrade at the position. To that end, the ZiPS forecasting system projects that Kottaras over the remainder of the season will hit .234/.344/.364. While those numbers are tailored to Miller Park and NL competition, his projection as an Athletic would be similar.

So credit A's GM Billy Beane for applying a low-cost solution to a genuine weakness.