BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox have acquired outfielder Kyle Schwarber from the Nationals for pitching prospect Aldo Ramirez, the club announced late Thursday night. FanSided’s Robert Murray was first to report the deal.

Schwarber, the longtime Cub, was an All-Star for the Nationals this season and hit .253 with 25 homers, 53 RBIs and a .910 OPS in 72 games with the club.

The 28-year-old is an unnatural fit with the Sox, as he has only played left field this season, but the club could theoretically move him to first base (a position he has played once in his 7-year career) or shift around its outfield mix to accommodate him. Schwarber came up as a catcher and made 21 appearances behind the plate as a rookie in 2015 but has played just six of his 493 games in a spot other than left field (not counting designated hitter) since 2016.

Schwarber, who hit a remarkable 16 homers in June (including 12 in a 10-game span from June 19-29) has been on the injured list with a hamstring strain since July 3, but he has progressed in recent days and is likely to be ready to be activated in the next 10-14 days. The Red Sox will place him on the IL on Friday and likely activate reliever Hirokazu Sawamura; the club designated reliever Brandon Workman for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Schwarber.

Schwarber signed a one-year, $10 million contract with the Nationals in January, guaranteeing a $7 million base for 2021 and an $11.5 million mutual option (or $3 million buyout) for 2022. His $10 million guarantee represents how much his deal counts against the collective bargaining tax, so the Red Sox will be on the hook for a prorated portion of that (about $3.33 million over the course of the rest of the year). According to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, the Sox are close to — but not yet projected to hit — the $210 million CBT threshold at this point. It remains to be seen if the club will try to stay under that mark as it discusses further moves before Friday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline.

Schwarber isn’t a pure rental, but his performance this year makes it more than likely that he will decline his end of the mutual option (which must be picked up by both the team and player to go into effect). In the fall, that will be an $8.5 million decision, as he can either stay with the Red Sox for $11.5 million or leave and receive a $3 million buyout.

Ramirez, a 20-year-old righty who has posted a 2.03 ERA in eight starts (31 innings) 31 innings for Low-A Salem this season. He was ranked as the No. 19 prospect in Boston’s system by MLB.com before the year, but his strong performance rocketed him up to the No. 9 spot in SoxProspects.com’s most recent rankings. Ramirez, who was signed out of Mexico as an international free agent in 2018, has been out of action since late June with elbow tendinitis. He was one of the younger and less advanced top rotation prospects for the Red Sox.

With Schwarber in tow, the Sox will likely turn their attention to adding pitching help before Friday’s deadline. Boston is known to be searching for bullpen help and could also look to add a starter.

OUT OF POSITION BUT OUTSTANDING

After pitching the best inning of any Red Sox pitcher in Thursday’s 13-1 blowout loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, Kevin Plawecki was willing to prove his dominance had been achieved cleanly.

As the Red Sox catcher-turned-pitcher came off the field after spinning a 1-2-3 ninth inning, he took off his cap and looked around for the umpire, in mock expectation that they’d want to examine him for Spidertack or similar sticky substances.

But the crew believed Plawecki’s arsenal, which heavily featured a slider and ranged from 53-to-79 miles per hour, didn’t require further scrutiny.

Plawecki got leadoff hitter Breyvic Valera to line out to left. He dueled with Bo Bichette for 11 pitches before inducing a pop-up to short. Teoscar Hernández, normally a Red Sox killer, couldn’t solve Plawecki and grounded out to end the inning.

It was Plawecki’s sixth career pitching performance and fifth scoreless inning.

Bichette’s pop-out for the second out settled into the glove of the tallest shortstop in franchise history as Bobby Dalbec played the position for the first time in the majors.

At 6-foot-4, Dalbec, normally a first baseman, can peek over the handful of 6-foot-3 guys to previously share the distinction of being the tallest Boston shortstop.

With the Blue Jays’ steady onslaught of runs putting the game out of reach early, Red Sox manager Alex Cora used the opportunity to get some of his regulars some rest.

Rafael Devers was scheduled to get the day off even before tweaking his quad Wednesday. So Dalbec, who played third in the minors, moved across the diamond. But in the seventh, Cora gave Xander Boegarts the rest of the night off and Dalbec moved to shortstop.

Dalbec was 0-for-2 as a third baseman Thursday, but he had an RBI double as a shortstop to drive in Boston’s only run.

Fittingly on a night when a catcher pitched and a first-baseman played shortstop, a point guard threw out the first pitch. Celtics rookie point guard Payton Pritchard handled the ceremonial duties.

The Red Sox finished the game with three catchers on the field. Christian Vázquez started there and moved to third base. Connor Wong was Plawecki’s battery mate.

Only Jarren Duran in centerfield played the entire game at one spot.

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