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Brewers Sign Frank CatalanottoMILWAUKEE (AP) -- The Milwaukee Brewers signed utilityman Frank Catalanotto to a minor league contract. Catalanotto will report to the Brewers' spring training facility in Arizona on Wednesday and spend about a week there before being assigned to a minor league team. General manager Doug Melvin said Tuesday he called Catalanotto on Monday to discuss if he would want to join the Brewers in a limited role coming off the bench as a left-handed pinch hitter. "I just asked him if he was interested in still playing and he said he was," said Melvin, who was the general manager in Texas in 2000-01 when Catalanotto played there. "There's no DH, there's not a lot of playing time in the outfield, we've got a regular lineup." Milwaukee's bench has started slow with its three young pinch hitters -- Brad Nelson, Casey McGehee and Chris Duffy -- going a combined 6 for 63. Brewers' pinch hitters are 7 of 38 overall this season. The 35-year-old Catalanotto has played first, second and third base and left and right field and has been a designated hitter in his 12-year career with Detroit, Texas and Toronto. He was most recently released by the Rangers at the end of spring training in favor of Andruw Jones. "He can still hit, there's no doubt about it," Brewers manager Ken Macha said. Catalanotto is a lifetime .292 hitter with 83 homers and 447 RBIs. (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
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