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02/12/2008 7:33 PM ET
Rangers sign OF Kevin Mench to Minor League contract
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SURPRISE, Ariz. -- The Texas Rangers announced this afternoon that the club has signed outfielder Kevin Mench to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training. He is expected to join the club in Surprise, Ariz., before the end of the week.
Mench, 30, was originally selected by Texas in the fourth round of the 1999 June Draft. He posted consecutive 25-homer campaigns for the Rangers in 2004 and 2005. He established a Major League record for a right-handed batter by hitting home runs in seven consecutive games from April 21-28, 2006, with Texas. Also with the Rangers, on June 30, 2005, vs. LA of Anaheim, Mench became just the second player in American League history to hit home runs in three consecutive innings.
He is back in the Rangers organization after being involved in a July 28, 2006 trade, in which Texas sent Mench, right-handed pitcher Francisco Cordero, outfielder Laynce Nix, and left-handed pitcher Julian Cordero to Milwaukee in exchange for outfielders Carlos Lee and Nelson Cruz. He finished the 2006 season with Milwaukee and was also with the Brewers last year. Mench is one of four players in the last four seasons (2004-07) to produce more than one 25-homer campaign for Texas, joining Mark Teixeira (3), Hank Blalock (2), and Alfonso Soriano (2).
Voted as the Rangers' Rookie of the Year by the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the BBWAA in 2002, Mench still resides in the Metroplex. He is one of the few players to ever reach the left field club level at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, accomplishing the feat with a long ball on May 29, 2005 vs. Chicago-AL. He has a career .271 average with 89 home runs in 651 Major League games, including 80 home runs in 510 games with the Rangers.
With the addition of Mench, the Rangers' current Spring Training roster now has 60 players. That figure does not include pitchers Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando, who remain in the Dominican Republic due to visa problems. An updated roster is attached to this release.
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