On Friday evening, the Phillies announced that veteran backstop Erik Kratz has been signed to a minor league deal and will report to Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Monday.
Kratz made his big league debut at the age of 30 five years ago to the day that this week’s Phillies news came out. The righty hitting Kratz is now 35 years old and has a .217/.240/.400 slash line in parts of six big league seasons. He played with the Phils from 2011 to 2013 and was dealt to Toronto in a trade for pitcher Brad Lincoln.
The 6-foot-4 240-pound Kratz played in four big league games this year with Kansas City and played at the Triple-A level for KC and Seattle this season as well.