PHILADELPHIA — The Detroit Tigers acquired corner infielder Joe Rizzo, the No. 50 overall pick in the 2016 draft, in a trade Thursday with the Miami Marlins in exchange for cash considerations.
Rizzo, a left-handed hitter, has played 11 games for Triple-A Jacksonville in the Marlins’ organization. He started the season with Double-A Pensacola and received a promotion after 32 games.
He has been assigned to Triple-A Toledo.
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The 25-year-old has played 23 games (202⅓ innings) at third base, 16 games (135⅓ innings) at first base and four games at designated hitter in the minor leagues. He is hitting .202 with three home runs, 17 walks (9.3% walk rate) and 43 strikeouts (23.6% strikeout rate) in 43 games.
With the Marlins, Rizzo hit .228 in Double-A Pensacola and .111 in Triple-A Jacksonville.
The Tigers have a pair of third basemen currently in Triple-A Toledo: Justyn-Henry Malloy and Andre Lipcius. (Colt Keith, a 21-year-old top prospect, is the primary third baseman in Double-A Erie.)
Lipcius, unlike Malloy and Keith, is a member of the Tigers’ 40-man roster and has played four positions: second base, first base, third base and left field. The 25-year-old is hitting .254 with four home runs, 26 walks (11% walk rate) and 39 strikeouts (16.5% strikeout rate) in 55 games with the Mud Hens.
Lipcius, the No. 83 overall pick in the 2019 draft, has 424 plate appearances across parts of two seasons in his Triple-A Toledo career.
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The Seattle Mariners drafted Rizzo in the second round in 2016 out of Oakton High School in Virginia.
Rizzo, who owns a .262 batting average in his 672-game career, became a minor-league free agent after the 2022 season and signed a minor-league contract with the Marlins for the 2023 campaign.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.