The Pittsburgh Pirates made their first move of the offseason, acquiring a top-100 prospect in outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia in a five-player deal that sent right-handed pitcher Johan Oviedo to the Boston Red Sox.

The Pirates are giving up Oviedo, left-handed reliever Tyler Samaniego and catcher Adonys Guzman in exchange for Garcia and 18-year-old right-hander Jesus Travieso, the team announced Thursday.

The move addresses one of their most prominent needs, adding to an offense that ranked among baseball’s worst in most major categories, while dealing from a position of strength with a starting pitcher.

Baseball America (No. 76) and MLB.com (No. 85) both rank Garcia as a top-100 prospect. MLB Pipeline already has Garcia ranked the Pirates’ No. 6 prospect, ahead of 2022 first-round draft pick Termarr Johnson.

While Garcia, who turns 23 on Dec. 11, is the centerpiece of the deal for the Pirates. Although he is expected to make an impact in the majors this season, the Pirates are still looking to add another bat to their outfield. With 55 grades for his arm, fielding and power on the 20-80 scouting scale, Garcia is considered an option in all three outfield spots.

Garcia – whose first name is pronounced JOES-tin-son and is nicknamed “The Password” – was considered the best power hitting prospect in Boston’s system after leading their minor leaguers in slugging percentage (.470) and OPS (.810) in a season split between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester.

Signed for $350,000 out of Venezuela in 2019, Garcia missed the 2020 season because of the pandemic and got off to a slow start. In its scouting report of Garcia, MLB Pipeline said the right-handed hitter has added significant strength to his 6-foot frame, claiming that he’s at least 50 pounds heavier than his listed weight of 163.

It showed in his power numbers. Garcia batted .271/.334/.498 with 12 doubles, three triples, 18 home runs and 58 RBIs in 81 games at Worcester – though it came with a 29% strikeout rate (102 in 351 plate appearances). In its scouting report, Baseball America wrote that Garcia’s “hips explode open on pitches in the bottom half of the zone, resulting in tape-measure shots, though a steep bat path has rendered him vulnerable to whiff on pitches above the belt.”

Travieso is a 5-foot-11 right-hander who was 2-0 with a 3.51 ERA, 1.64 WHIP and 38 strikeouts against 11 walks in 25 2/3 innings over seven appearances (six starts) at Low-A Salem this past season.

The Pirates surrendered a starter in Oviedo, a 6-6, 275-pound workhorse who made 32 starts and tossed 177 2/3 innings in 2023 before missing the following season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Oviedo was expected to return to the rotation this past season but a lat strain suffered in spring training limited him to nine starts. After being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis on Aug. 20, he went 2-1 with a 3.57 ERA and 1.21 WHIP for the Pirates over the final five weeks.

The 26-year-old Samaniego, a Kent Tekulve Award winner as the system’s top reliever in 2022, has battled injuries the past few seasons. He bounced back at Double-A Altoona last summer and was added to the 40-man roster on Nov. 18 to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft.

Guzman, 22, was a fifth-round draft pick out of Arizona this past July. The 5-11, 220-pounder from Bronx, N.Y., has an 80-grade arm but was undrafted out of high school and started his college career at Boston College before transferring to Arizona, where he batted .328/.411/.496 last season and threw out 31% of base stealers last season.

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