Jake Marisnick, member of the 2017 Houston Astros, agrees to deal with the Dodgers

Acquiring another right-handed bat will likely be necessary for the Dodgers before next month’s trade deadline.

On Thursday, however, they took a chance by bringing in a veteran free agent to fill the hole first.

The team has agreed to a major league deal with outfielder Jake Marisnick, according to several people with knowledge of the situation and not authorized to speak publicly.

This isn’t a big-name signing, adding a 32-year-old journeyman with a career batting average of .228 and a below-league-average on-base-plus-slugging percentage of .672 in 42 games this season.

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Nonetheless, Marisnick will bring to the Dodgers 11 seasons of MLB experience and a solid defensive history as a center fielder, whose only two current right-handed outfielders are Mookie Betts (who split time in the field this season) and Jonny DeLuca ( a rookie who has seven hits in 33 at-bats).

Marisnick has two notable ties to the Dodgers.

A product of Riverside Poly, he was teammates with wide receiver Austin Barnes in high school more than a decade ago.

In 2017, Marisnick was a member of the infamous Houston Astros team that was later revealed to have illegally stolen signs – although he was not on the active roster for their World Series victory over the Dodgers in the playoffs playoffs.

Since being traded by Houston in 2019, Marisnick has bounced around the league. He played for the New York Mets in 2020, then had part-time stops with the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres in 2021, as well as the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox during of the last two seasons. He was designated for assignment by the Detroit Tigers last week.

He’s never been a good hitter (his best offensive year came in 2017, when he hit 16 home runs and had an .815 OPS), but he could provide significant defensive value for the third-ranked Dodgers rank among the worst major leagues for defensive runs saved. in center field, where rookie James Outman got most of the playing time.

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This story was originally published in the Los Angeles Times.