It took Niko Kavadas five games to get his first career hit, but when he finally did, he was the one to make up for it. The Los Angeles Angels’ recently promoted rookie hit a three-run home run for his first career hit in Thursday’s loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Kavadas’ hit was the Angels’ only run of the day as they fell 5-3 in Toronto.

The 25-year-old was promoted to the major leagues for the first time on August 16 and has a home run, a stolen base, three RBIs and two runs scored in 18 at-bats since his debut. He was named to the team along with infielder Jack Lopez, while Luis Guillorme and Willie Calhoun were designated for assignment.

He was recently signed by the Angels at the MLB trade deadline. Kavadas was sent to the Angels from the Boston Red Sox on July 30 in exchange for Luis Garcia along with Matthew Lugo, Yeferson Vargas and Ryan Zeferjahn.

Kavadas was called up when the Angels decided to make changes to their lineup to encourage their hitters to perform better. Those changes included moving Taylor Ward to the first batter spot, Nolan Schanuel to third base and moving Logan O’Hoppe to the back.

Prior to his call-up, Kavadas had played 11 games for the Angels’ Triple-A Salt Lake. In his short time with Salt Lake, he posted a batting average of .159/.229/.341 with seven hits, four runs, two home runs and four RBIs.

Kavadas began the season with the Red Sox’s Triple-A affiliate and posted a much better average of .281/.424/.551 with 74 hits, 57 runs, 17 home runs and 63 RBIs in 83 games before being traded.

Kavadas has been part of the Red Sox organization since 2021, when Boston selected him in the 11th round of the draft after playing four seasons of college baseball for Notre Dame. He was promoted to Triple-A for the first time in 2023 and posted a .209 batting average with eight home runs and 27 RBIs in 48 games.