Braves Sign Mark Hamilton to Minor League Deal

Source: #Braves sign 1B Mark Hamilton to a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training

— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) December 15, 2013

First reported by Chris Cotillo, the Braves have signed 29-year-old 1B Mark Hamilton to a minor league deal. Formerly of the Red Sox and Cardinals, Hamilton hit .261/.361/.463 in 335 plate appearances last season in Triple-A.

He was originally selected in the second round of the 2006 draft, 76th overall, by the Cardinals out of Tulane University. The lefty has proven to be a high walk, high strikeout guy at the plate with relatively good power. He saw time in the bigs during the 2010 and 2011 seasons, accumulating 66 career plate appearances with less than impressive numbers.

Like Gamel, to a lesser extent, Hamilton is a bat first player who may prove to become a lefty bat off the bench. The invite to Spring Training will give him the chance to earn a job, but chances are he will spend most of his time in the minor leagues barring a fantastic spring; a similar route he took with the Red Sox in 2013. Overall, this signing doesn't exactly move the meter.

The Pirates were also interested in Hamilton.