Braves Acquire Outfielder Nate McLouth from Pittsburgh

The Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates announced today that the two clubs have completed a four-player trade. The Braves acquired outfielder Nate McLouth from the Pirates in exchange for pitcher Charlie Morton, minor-league outfielder Gorkys Hernandez, and minor-league pitcher Jeff Locke.

McLouth, 27, was a National League All-Star and Rawlings Gold Glove winner during the 2008 season when he set career highs with a .276 batting average, 26 home runs, 94 runs batted in, 23 stolen bases and a NL-leading 46 doubles. His 113 runs scored ranked fifth in the NL and his 76 extra-base hits ranked eighth.

He has a .261 career batting average with 60 home runs and 194 runs batted in during five major-league seasons with Pittsburgh.

McLouth led all NL center fielders with a .997 fielding percentage last season and he has yet to make an error in 45 games in the outfield this season. On the basepaths, he has the best stolen base percentage (64-of-69, 92.8%) among all major leaguers since the start of the 2005 season. He was 23-for-26 in stolen-base attempts in 2008 and he has 28 consecutive successful attempts dating back to April 22, 2008.

McLouth was originally selected by Pittsburgh in the 25th round of the 2000 draft.

Morton, 25, was selected by Atlanta in the third round of the 2002 June free agent draft. He went 4-8 with a 6.15 ERA in 16 games for the Braves in 2008 and he was 7-2 with a 2.51 ERA in 10 games with Gwinnett (AAA) in 2009. Hernandez, 21, was acquired by the Braves along with pitcher Jair Jurrjens in October of 2007 in exchange for infielder Edgar Renteria. He was hitting .316 with 19 runs batted in with Mississippi in 2009. Locke, 21, was the Braves second round selection in the 2006 June free agent draft and he was 1-4 with a 5.52 ERA in 10 games with Myrtle Beach (A) this season.

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Atlanta Kidney Transplant Recipient to Represent Georgia in National Transplant Games in Pittsburgh

While many medical students were preparing for board exams in 2006, Ken Sutha was already spending plenty of time in the hospital as a patient.

Diagnosed with kidney disease at age 10, Sutha's condition was stable through high school but worsened during college.

"I knew then that I'd have to either go on dialysis or have a kidney transplant," he says.
Sutha received his kidney from his father, Surachai, at Emory University Hospital in April 2006.

After the transplant, he wanted to find more ways to get involved with transplant patients. He become a camp counselor at Camp Independence in Rutledge, Ga., a camp for children diagnosed with kidney disease or with solid organ transplants. Now in his third year as a counselor, Sutha spends one week a summer sharing experiences with other transplant recipients.

He credits fellow counselors and campers with inspiring him to take up swimming on an advanced level, and his dedication to the sport led to another passion -- training for, and participating in, the National Kidney Foundation Transplant Games.

The Transplant Games, held this year in Pittsburgh July 11-16, are a nationwide sporting event for transplant recipients. The event is the only national athletic competition for recipients of all life-saving organ transplants, as well as the largest gathering of transplant recipients and donor families in the world. Sutha will represent Georgia and compete in the 100-meter medley and race-walking.

"The Transplant Games are something that kind of snowballed once I got into it and everyone found out," Sutha says. "One of the many reasons I am participating is to increase awareness among the general public of the critical need for more organ donors. I want to encourage others to think about organ donation and to talk to their families about it."

Now working on MD/PhD degrees with a focus on stem cell and bone regeneration research at Emory University and Georgia Tech, Sutha believes that his work in biomedical engineering ties in with his transplant surgery.

"I was fortunate enough to receive a living donor kidney from my dad, but in Georgia alone, there are more than 1,950 people waiting for a transplant, and someone to give the gift of life," says Sutha. "I want people to know that transplants work and I am a success story. I'm doing well and leading a normal life. In fact I'm doing more now than I would otherwise."