The Orioles and infielder Jayson Nix have agreed to a minor league contract that will pay the 32-year-old Turner Gary Sports client $750K in the Majors with another $50K worth of incentives, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Nix will be invited to Major League Spring Training, per MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko (on Twitter). 1500 ESPN’s Darren Wolfson tweeted last night that Nix was on the cusp of signing.
Nix spent time with three different clubs in 2014 but struggled across the board, batting .120/.169/.157 in 91 plate appearances between the Phillies, Pirates and Royals. Earlier in his career, the former No. 44 overall pick (Rockies, 2001) showed 15-homer/15-steal potential, but he’s never been able to consistently produce at the Major League level.
Nix, who has experience at all four infield positions, will provide depth to an Orioles infield that projects to use Manny Machado at third base, J.J. Hardy at shortstop, Jonathan Schoop at second base and a combination of Chris Davis and Steve Pearce at first base. Ryan Flaherty is currently slated to be the backup infielder, and the club also has Jimmy Paredes on the 40-man roster, so Nix seems likely to end up at Triple-A to serve as depth at this juncture. He’s a career .280/.344/.443 hitter at that level.
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