Indians sign reliever Bonilla to Minors deal

Free-agent right-hander has 6.28 ERA in 15 career appearances

December 18th, 2017

CLEVELAND -- The Indians have added another arm to their Spring Training competition, signing right-hander to a Minor League contract on Monday.
Bonilla has been invited to attend Spring Training with the Indians as a non-roster invitee, giving Cleveland eight such players at the moment. Pitchers Jeff Beliveau, , and , infielders and and outfielder are also slated to be in camp with the Tribe on non-roster invites.
The Indians have also reached agreements with outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. and righty on Minor League contracts with non-roster invitations, but those deals are still pending physicals.
Bonilla, 27, has posted a 6.28 ERA in 15 career games (seven starts) in the Majors between stints with the Rangers (2014) and Reds (2017). In 57 1/3 career innings in the big leagues, the right-hander has 45 strikeouts against 34 walks. He missed the '15 season while recovering from right elbow surgery and spent the '16 season in the Dodgers' Minor League system.
Last season, Bonilla went 1-3 with an 8.10 ERA in 10 appearances (four starts) with Cincinnati, compiling 28 strikeouts against 22 walks in 36 2/3 innings. In 18 games (eight starts) with Triple-A Louisville in '17, Bonilla had a 3.59 ERA with 59 strikeouts and 23 walks in 62 2/3 innings.

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Jordan Bastian has covered the Indians for MLB.com since 2011, and previously covered the Blue Jays from 2006-10. Read his blog, Major League Bastian, follow him on Twitter @MLBastian and Facebook.