The Royals signed outfielder Jorge Bonifacio to a minor league contract last week, MLB.com’s Anne Rogers reports (Twitter link). Bonifacio has already started to appear in Spring Training games, but the signing flew under the radar.
The 29-year-old Bonifacio last appeared in the majors in 2021, playing in seven games with the Phillies. 2022 marked the first time since the 2016 season that Bonifacio didn’t appear in a big league game, as he spent the entire year with Philadelphia’s Triple-A affiliate in Lehigh Valley, hitting .240/.336/.407 with 15 home runs over 444 plate appearances.
Bonifacio will now return to his original organization, as he first signed with the Royals as an international free agent back in 2009. He made his MLB debut with Kansas City in 2017 and hit .247/.319/.408 with 21 homers over 713 PA during the 2017-19 seasons, but that stint was marred by an 80-game PED suspension during the 2018 campaign. Bonifacio didn’t hit much after returning from the suspension, and the Royals ultimately released him after the 2019 season.
At the negligible cost of a minor league deal, the Royals can take another look at a familiar face, and Bonifacio’s signing continues a trend for K.C. this offseason. The Royals spent their free-agent dollars to upgrade their pitching staff (re-signing Zack Greinke and signing Jordan Lyles and Ryan Yarbrough), but didn’t do much around the diamond, other than deal such former regulars as Michael A. Taylor, Adalberto Mondesi, and Ryan O’Hearn. The club is counting on those gaps being filled primarily by in-house younger players, and Bonifacio now joins a lengthy list of MLB veterans in Kansas City’s camp as non-roster invitees.
Bonafide or Bonifacio?
The RH Jon Nunnally; have a break out rookie year and then do nothing the rest of the way
There’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. Can’t believe Bonifacio is still only 29. I coulda swore he had a stint with the Marlins, but apparently not.
Emilio did. Jorge did not.
Both got popped for roids too