Rapid City baseball fans are going to be only a quick drive to Denver away from seeing one of their hometown boys play in the flesh on a regular basis.

The Oakland A’s have traded Mark Ellis to the Colorado Rockies.

The Rapid City native spent nine seasons in Oakland and was dealt to Colorado for Bruce Billings, a player to be named later and cash. The Rockies will take on $1 million of the roughly $3 million owed to Ellis. He will be uniform Friday and is expected start at second base.

“We know he’s winning player. We have guys who were teammates with him. He’s a good defender, another veteran guy who has a presence and feel for the game at a time when we are breaking a lot of young players,” Colorado general manager Dan O’Dowd told the Denver Post.

During his career in Oakland Ellis was widely considered one of the best second baseman in the league with a career fielding percentage of .990. His lifetime average is .265, but he’s hitting only .217 with one homer and 16 RBIs. Rookie Jemile Weeks earned the starting job at second after Ellis went to the disabled list on June 7. Upon his return, Ellis was used in a utility role, starting just twice in seven games, both at first.

“Looking at Mark’s situation going forward, this is a unique opportunity for us to put Mark in a great place while that chance existed,” GM Billy Beane told the San Francisco Chronicle. “To say that Jemile’s play hasn’t created this to some extent would be disingenuous.”

The Rockies have been using Jonathan Herrera and Chris Nelson at second, and both have been struggling at the plate, so Ellis is expected to be the everyday second baseman for the Rockies.

Billings has pitched only one game in the majors. He’s 6-2 with a 4.47 ERA in 29 relief appearances at Colorado Springs this year.