Royals sign veteran backstop Ramon Hernandez to Minor League deal

KANSAS CITY, MO - The Kansas City Royals announced today that the club has signed veteran catcher Ramon Hernandez to a minor league contract for 2014. The Royals plan to announce all of the club's Major League camp non-roster invitees at a later date.

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 for Oakland (1999-2003), San Diego (2004-05), Baltimore (2006-08), Cincinnati (2009-11), Colorado (2012) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (2013). His 757 RBI since the start of the 1999 season rank fifth among Major League catchers in that time, while his 169 homers are seventh-most among big league backstops. He played in 17 games for the Dodgers in 2013, batting .208 (10-for-48) with two doubles, three homers and six RBI, before being released on June 22. 

An All-Star in 2003, Hernandez hit .273 in 140 games that season for the A's, belting 21 homers and collecting 78 RBI, helping the team to its fourth-straight postseason appearance. He collected a career-high 23 homers and 91 RBI in 2006, his first year with the Orioles. Hernandez has participated in six postseason series, reaching the playoffs with Oakland (2000-03), San Diego (2005) and Cincinnati (2010).