Milwaukee Brewers acquire Neil Walker from New York Mets

The Milwaukee Brewers beefed up their lineup in an effort to enhance their chances to stay in the hotly contested National League Central race by acquiring second baseman Neil Walker from the New York Mets on Saturday.

The team did not immediately disclose the terms of the deal for Walker, a switch hitter who is batting .264 with 10 home runs and 36 RBIs in 73 games this season.

In the past few weeks, the Mets have dealt Addison Reed, Lucas Duda and Jay Bruce to save the team approximately $9 million.

The Brewers made the move to give them a more productive bat at second base. Jonathan Villar, who moved to second from shortstop this year, has struggled at the plate and Eric Sogard was slowed by an ankle injury in early July.

Walker missed six weeks earlier this season with a torn hamstring.

There were reports that a deal fell through with the New York Yankees before the July 31 trading deadline because of concerns about his injury, but Walker said he is completely healthy.

Walker will be a free agent after this season. His salary this season is $17.2 million, of which the Brewers would appear to be responsible for about the remaining $4.7 million.

The 31-year-old Walker spent seven seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates before being dealt to the Mets after the 2015 campaign.

In 1,022 career games, Walker has a .272 average with 126 home runs and 509 RBIs.

The move could be considered somewhat surprising after Villar produced three hits and two RBIs on Friday night in a loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Overall, Villar is batting .222 for the season in 95 games and had a National League-high 14 errors at second base.

As a full-time shortstop for the Brewers in 2016, Villar batted .285 with 19 homers and 63 RBIs while leading the league with 62 stolen bases.

Sogard hit .338 in May and June, but in 17 games since he returned from the ankle injury was batting only .116.