Royals sign former All-Star catcher
By Jeff Adcox
The Kansas City Royals announced today that the club has signed veteran catcher Ramon Hernandez to a minor league contract for 2014. The Royals will announce the rest of their training camp, non-roster invitees later this year.
Hernandez, 37, has spent 15 seasons in the Majors Leagues and is a career .263 hitter with a .327 on-base and a .417 slugging percentage. The catcher has played for the Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies and most recently in 17 games with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2013. During those 17 games, Hernandez hit .208 with two doubles, three homers and six RBI. He was released part way through the season by the Dodgers on June 22.
Hernandez’s 757 RBI since the start of the 1999 season rank him fifth among Major League catchers in that time, while his 169 homers are seventh-most among big league backstops.
An All-Star in 2003, Hernandez hit .273 in 140 games that season for the A’s, belting 21 homers and collecting 78 RBI. He helped the team to its fourth-straight postseason appearance. He also hit a career-high 23 homers and had 91 RBI in 2006, his first year with the Orioles. Hernandez has participated in the postseason with Oakland (2000-03), San Diego (2005) and Cincinnati (2010).