The Pirates sent former second-round pick Duke Welker to the Twins to complete the Justin Morneau trade Saturday.

Welker, a 27-year-old righthanded reliever, appeared in two games for Pittsburgh last season, pitching 1â…“ scoreless innings. The 6-7 Welker, who pitched in college at Seminole State and then Arkansas, had a 3.57 ERA with 65 strikeouts and 31 walks in 63 innings for Class AAA Indianapolis in 2013.

"He's got a good slider he likes to use a lot," said Alex Presley, the outfielder who also was acquired Aug. 31 in exchange for Morneau. "He's a two-pitch guy who runs it up there 96, 97 [mph]. He's had one of the better years of his career this year, and he's building off that."

The Twins and Pirates agreed at the time of the trade on a group of players that the final player traded would be drawn from. At the time, mlb.com reported Welker would be the second player to come over, but Twins General Manager Terry Ryan denied that report, saying the choice of which player to send to Minnesota was Pittsburgh's.

Phil Miller