The Cincinnati Reds announced earlier today that they have signed infielder Chris Dominguez to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.
Reds have signed to a minor league contract and invited to Major League spring training camp IF Chris Dominguez.
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) February 11, 2015
The then 27-year-old Dominguez made his Major League debut last year for the San Francisco Giants, going 1-18 with his lone hit being a home run.
He’s spent the last two seasons at the Triple-A level in the minors. He’s struggled mightily with plate discipline in his career, walking just 45 times in the last two seasons while striking out 255 times. He’s had some pop in his bat, hitting 36 homers in the last two years while playing in the Pacific Coast League.
At 28-years-old, the plate discipline is incredibly unlikely to improve much. That’s not so good.
On the good side of things though he does have good pop in his bat and he’s able to play all around the infield. In the last two seasons at the Triple-A level he’s played 40 games in right field, 24 games in left field, 128 games at third base, 38 games at first base and 33 games at shortstop. He’s very flexible on defense and that’s got plenty of value.
The question is whether or not his bat can be useful enough to carry a player on the bench that is that flexible defensively. The steamer projections at Fangraphs have him pegged to hit .218/.252/.336 at the big league level.