According to Mat Eddy, the Yankees have signed first baseman and former top Brewers prospect Mat Gamel to what we can safely assume is a minor league contract. No idea if he’ll come to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. Mat is the older brother of Yankees farmhand Ben Gamel, an outfielder who spent last season with Double-A Trenton.
Gamel, 29, has not played at all since 2012 due to a series of knee injuries, specifically torn right ACLs. He tore it the first time in May 2012 running into a wall chasing a pop-up, re-tore it during a Spring Training workout in 2013, then injured the knee again working out at home prior to the 2014 season. Gamel has been rehabbing and working his way back since then.
When he last played in 2012, Gamel went 17-for-69 (.246) with one homer in 21 games for Milwaukee. He’s a career .229/.305/.367 (78 wRC+) hitter in 269 big league plate appearances and a .301/.374/.512 (~120 wRC+) hitter in over 1,200 Triple-A plate appearances. Baseball America ranked Gamel as the 34th best prospect in baseball prior to 2009, but gosh, that was a long time ago.
Kyle Roller, Greg Bird, and Mike Ford are set to be the starting first basemen at Triple-A Scranton, Double-A Trenton, and High-A Tampa, respectively, so it’s unclear where Gamel fits in at the moment. He might still be rehabbing for all we know. Gamel could be a DH candidate at Triple-A or Double-A, but there’s no reason to think he’s some sort of big league option.
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