The Tigers have reportedly come to terms with third baseman Michael Almanzar, adding more depth to their minor league system for the 2017 season.
#Tigers signed 3B Michael Almanzar to minors deal. Somewhat similar to 3B Jefry Marte, who signed with Detroit after 2014 and blossomed.
— Matt Eddy (@MattEddyBA) January 17, 2017
26-year-old Dominican who has been in Red Sox and Orioles systems… https://t.co/5320NKlbJ3
— Evan Woodbery (@evanwoodbery) January 17, 2017
As Woodbery said above, Almanzar has spent his professional career down on the farm for both Boston (2008-14) and Baltimore (14-16). He spent the 2016 season at Triple-A Norfolk where in 118 games played, he slashed .241/.297/.380, with ten home runs and 41 runs batted in. In his nine career minor league seasons, Almanzar posts a .245 BA and a .663 OPS.
Defensively, he’s played in over 900 games at a corner infield position – first base and third base. The bulk of his playing time has been at the latter, over 770 games played at the hot corner and compiling a .928 fielding percentage. A smaller sample size at first base, but his fielding % skyrockets to .991 when shifted across the diamond.
