KANSAS CITY -- In an effort to bolster their organizational depth, the Indians acquired utility player Andrew Velazquez from the Rays on Wednesday for international bonus pool allotments.

The Tribe also announced that right-hander Chih-Wei Hu has been designated for assignment.

Velazquez, who turns 25 on July 14, has been assigned to the Triple-A Columbus injured list due to left thumb and right hamstring issues. He has been up and down with the Rays and Triple-A Durham this season, hitting .271 in 34 games for Durham.

Velazquez has played shortstop, second base, third base and center field in 418 Minor League games.

Indians manager Terry Francona was briefed on the Velazquez acquisition by the front office on Wednesday.

"He's a really versatile, switch-hitting kid, who has a couple of options," Francona said. "The versatility they really liked. The fact that it's a guy who can go up and down if needed."

Velazquez was a seventh-round pick of the D-backs in the 2012 MLB Draft and he was traded to the Rays in 2014.

Pitching inside

Although he picked up a win against the Royals on Tuesday, right-hander Trevor Bauer surrendered 11 hits, tying a career high. He talked after the outing about needing to come inside more so that hitters stop leaning out over the plate to get to his fastball.

"Throw some fastballs under people's chins so they stop diving over the plate," Bauer said. "Maybe if I drill a couple of more people in the ribs with fastballs, they'll stop leaning out over [the plate]. When guys are getting hits on 97-mph fastballs eight inches off the plate away, it tells you something."

Francona agreed with Bauer's general point about needing to come inside more, but said he would have phrased it differently.

"Carl [pitching coach Willis] has been after him to show 'in', so you can open up the plate," Francona said. "They are leaning out. But nobody ever said anything about under the chin. That's not what we talk about. I will make that clear. But yeah, he does need to get inside more. I don't think he quite meant it like he said it."

Lofton event

Fans will have multiple chances to see former Indians All-Star Kenny Lofton both on and off the field beginning on Sunday in the MLB All-Star Celebrity Game at 5 p.m. ET at Progressive Field before taking a stroll down the street to JACK Cleveland Casino at 8 p.m.

Lofton will be inviting celebrities and former professional athletes like Carlos Baerga, Sandy Alomar, Jr., Bobby Bonilla, Ellis Burks, Josh Cribbs, Andre Dawson, Torii Hunter and others to participate in a fund-raising poker tournament to benefit the newly launched Still Got Game Foundation, a non-profit organization that allows former pro athletes and like-minded charitable individuals to connect in order to create ideas that support social change for a more just, sustainable and educated world

"Myself, Torii and the guys, we always talked about trying to give back and figure out what we can do when we're done," Lofton said. "We're all friends, so we had the opportunity to say, 'Hey, what can we do?'. We had to figure out what we were going to call it and that was another fun thing to figure that out."

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

"When I was playing there, being part of the Indians, I always tried to give back to the Cleveland public school system," Lofton said.