New York Yankees Sign Donovan Solano To Minor League Deal

According to Colombian newspaper El Heraldo, the New York Yankees have signed infielder Donovan Solano to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.

The 28-year old Solano originally broke into the major leagues in 2005 when he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free-agent. He kicked around the minors from 2005-2011 and eventually made it all the way up to AAA in St. Louis, but never played a big league game for them.

In 2012 he signed with the Miami Marlins and finally gained some big league experience.

In 361 major league games with the Marlins between 2012 and 2015, Solano slashed a career .257/.307/.302 with a .634 OPS, eight home runs and 97 RBI. His career 16.9 % strikeout rate and 5.6 % walk rate shows he has pretty decent plate discipline, but his true strength lies on the defensive side of the ball.

Solano is a very versatile infielder, playing a total of 231 games at second, 24 at third, 19 at short and a few brief stints in the outfield for the Marlins over his four-year span.

Solano was designated for assignment by the Marlins in October, but given his professional resume, it’ll be interesting to see whether or not he has a shot at making the Yankees roster out of spring training as a bench player. If not, he’ll probably fill in at Triple-A Scranton for Eric Jagielo or Jose Pirela who were both traded away this off-season.

According to baseball reference, Solano draws major league comparisons to Johnny Giavotella and former Yankees Luis Sojo. He’s projected to slash .245/.299/.339 with a .637 OPS through 281 plate appearances in 2016.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this signing is that the Yankees never had a Colombian born player in the history of their existence. If Solano, a native of Barranquilla, Colombia can make the big league roster, he would be the first.