Ray Durham Traded from San Francisco Giants to Milwaukee Brewers for Pair of Minor League Players

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com –SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- The San Francisco Giants have traded infielder Ray Durham to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for minor league left-handed pitcher Steve Hammond and minor league outfielder Darren Ford, club Senior Vice President and General Manager Brian Sabean announced today.

            Hammond, a 26-year-old Vallejo, CA native, has gone 7-8 with a 4.09 ERA (48er, 105.2ip) with 38 walks and 98 strikeouts in 19 starts between double-A Huntsville and triple-A Nashville this season. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound southpaw has seen his first action at the triple-A level this year, going 0-4 with a 7.41 ERA (14er, 17.0ip) in 4 starts for the Sounds.  Selected by the Brewers in the sixth round of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft out of Long Beach State, Hammond has posted a 30-31 ledger with a 3.55 ERA (187er, 474.0ip) 82 career minor league starts.

            Ford, 22 years old, earned mid-season All-Star accolades for single-A Brevard County this season. The New Jersey native batted .230 (79-for-343) with 57 runs, 13 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs and 27 RBI, while recording 48 stolen bases this season, the second-most swipes in all of minor league baseball entering today's games.  The 5-foot-11, 195-pound speedster has swiped at least 18 bases in each of his four minor league seasons and has tallied 202 stolen bases in his professional career. Selected by Milwaukee in the 18th round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft, Ford has posted a career .268 lifetime batting average (420-for-1567) with 301 runs, 63 doubles, 14 triples, 19 home runs and 165 RBI in 400 minor league contests. He was ranked by Baseball America as the fastest baserunner and the best defensive outfielder in the Brewers' minor league organization prior to this season.

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            Durham, a 14-year Major League veteran, batted .293 (77-for-263) with 43 runs, 23 doubles, 3 home runs, 32 RBI and 6 stolen bases in 87 games during his sixth season with the Giants. The Charlotte, NC native has posted the second-highest average at second base in the NL this year with a .303 (73-for-241) clip, while also recording the second-best fielding percentage among NL second basemen with a .989 (262 total chances, 3 errors) mark. He appeared in 87 of San Francisco's 98 games this season, making 61 starts at second base. Durham is just one of 22 second basemen in Major League history to record 2,000 career hits, and just the 28th switch-hitter to do so. He reached the 2,000-hit milestone with a two-run single June 12 at Colorado (off Greg Reynolds) and currently has 2,024 lifetime hits.

            A two-time All-Star (1998 and 2000), Durham has a lifetime .277 (2024-for-7301) batting average with 1,228 runs, 428 doubles, 79 triples, 189 home runs, 862 RBI and 271 stolen bases in 1,934 career games with the Chicago White Sox (1995-2002), Oakland Athletics (2002), and Giants (2003-08).

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