Tigers trade J.D. Martinez to Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks have acquired outfielder J.D. Martinez from the Tigers for infield prospects Dawel Lugo, Sergio Alcantara and Jose King according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports and Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The clubs announced the trade.

Martinez, a free agent at the end of the season, was arguably the top position player available on this year’s trade market and drew interest from many clubs, being linked to the Rockies, Dodgers, Red Sox, Royals and Cardinals before being dealt to Arizona. The Diamondbacks, a surprise contender who have opened up a six-game lead in the NL Wild Card race, were looking to add a big bat and will likely now turn their attention to adding bullpen help.

Martinez, who turns 30 next month, will provide an immediate outfield upgrade for an Arizona team alongside A.J. Pollock and David Peralta. The D-Backs have been using Daniel Descalso, Gregor Blanco and Chris Herrmann as fill-in options in left field in the absence of Yasmany Tomas, but will now add Martinez to a lineup that already includes Pollock, Peralta and All-Stars Paul Goldschmidt and Jake Lamb.

Martinez has hit .305/.388/.630 with 16 homers and 39 RBI for Detroit this season, his fourth with the Tigers and seventh in the majors. His main value to the D-Backs will be improving the club’s offensive performance against lefties, as his 1.661 OPS against southpaws leads the majors while Arizona’s team OPS of .660 against lefties ranks 28th in baseball.

Lugo, 22, is a 6-foot, 190-lb. infielder who has hit .282/.325/.428 with seven homers for Double-A Jackson so far this season. Originally acquired by Arizona in a deal that sent Cliff Pennington to Toronto two years ago, Lugo has climbed up prospect lists and was ranked as the D-Backs’ fourth-best prospect at the time of the deal, per MLB Pipeline.

Alcantara, 21, is a shortstop who hit .279/.344/.362 with three homers in 86 games for High-A Visalia this season. He came in at no. 15 on the MLB.com list.

King, 18, is a middle infielder who has spent the year with the Diamondbacks’ Rookie-level affiliate, hitting .261/.333/.348 in 13 games in his second professional season.

Arizona is considered to have a relatively weak farm system, with only one player (lefty Anthony Banda at no. 68) ranked in Baseball America’s midseason listing of the top 100 prospects in baseball. Detroit is one of the few known sellers in baseball this trade season, with reliever Justin Wilson and catcher Alex Avila among the candidates to be moved next.

To keep track of every trade made this July, check our our trade deadline tracker.

MLB.com’s Jon Morosi was the first to report a deal was close.