The Texas Rangers have signed designated hitter Manny Ramirez to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Round Rock.
Here's more from the Rangers:
Ramirez, 41, will report to Round Rock on Thursday, July 4, and will work out with the club for a few days before being activated by the Express. He began the year with Taiwan’s EDA Rhinos of the Chinese Professional Baseball League, batting .352 (64-182) with 8 homers, 13 doubles, and 43 RBI. He drew 23 walks against 21 strikeouts, with a .422 on-base percentage and .555 slugging mark. Ramirez was removed from the Rhinos active roster on June 19.
Ramirez is a 12-time All-Star and finished in the top 6 in Most Valuable Player voting on 7 different occasions. He has a career slash line of .312 Avg/.411 OBP/.585 SLG, one of only 6 players in major league history with those minimums in each of those categories (minimum 3000 plate appearances), joining Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg, Babe Ruth, and Ted Williams. Ramirez last played in the majors with Tampa Bay in 2011, going 1-for-17 in 5 games before announcing his retirement in April of that year. He began the 2012 season in the Oakland A’s organization, batting .302 (19-63) with no home runs and 14 RBI in 17 games for Triple-A Sacramento, but requested and was granted his release on June 15, 2012.
Ramirez ranks among all-time leaders in home runs (14th, 555) and RBI (18th, 1831). He has played 2302 career games with Cleveland (1993-2000), Boston (2001-08), Los Angeles-NL (2008-10), Chicago-AL (2010), and Tampa Bay (2011).
