In an effort to strengthen their infield, the Kansas City T-Bones announce they’ve traded pitcher Brad Furnish to Grand Prairie for infielder Jairo Perez.

Perez, 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, split time last season between Fort Myers – the Minnesota Twins’ high-A club – plus Wichita and Grand Prairie of the American Association. In 106 games, he had 114 hits with nine home runs, 56 RBIs and a .279 batting average. During his time in the American Association (41 games), Perez had 51 hits and a .300 batting average. Defensively, he had a combined .971 fielding percentage with the three clubs, committing six errors in 209 chances.

“Perez is a guy we wanted here last year but we couldn’t get a trade worked out, so I’m very excited to have him now,” said T-Bones manager Kenny Hook. “He’s a sound second baseman and an even better third baseman, so we have some flexibility of where we play him. Offensively, he handles the bat well enough that he can hit in different spots in the lineup, and he has a great swing for our ballpark.”

Perez signed with the Minnesota Twins as a non-drafted free agent in July 2006. He spent parts of five seasons with the Twins organization before signing with Wichita midway through 2012. He was selected as Minnesota’s Minor League Player of the Month in June 2011, when he batted .397 with four home runs and 16 RBIs in 19 games.

To acquire Perez, the T-Bones sent left-handed reliever Furnish to Grand Prairie. Furnish, a native of Keller, Texas, who went to Texas Christian, made 13 appearances for Kansas City in 2012.

“We hate to part ways with Furnish, who was a valuable asset to us, but this is a trade that’s good for both sides,” Hook said. “We get an every day infielder, and Brad’s going home to a competitive team.”