Brewers give minor-league deals to former big-league first basemen Tyler White, Jonathan Singleton
Tom Haudricourt
With major-league transactions still frozen by the management lockout, the Milwaukee Brewers continued to make minor-league moves Thursday, including the additions of two 30-something first basemen with interesting backgrounds.
Robert Murray of FanSided.com reported the Brewers had a minor-league agreement with first baseman Tyler White, 31, with an invitation to spring training. White last played in the majors in 2019 for the Los Angeles Dodgers, after a midseason trade from Houston.
White’s best year in the majors came in 2018 with the Astros, when he batted .276 with 12 home runs and 42 RBI in 66 games. The next season, the right-handed hitter played in 83 games with Houston and L.A., batting only .208 with a .612 OPS, three homers and 23 RBI.
The Dodgers released White before the start of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and he played briefly for the SK Wyverns in the Korean Baseball Organization. This year, he played for Toronto’s Class AAA Buffalo affiliate, batting .292 in 105 games with a .900 OPS, 13 homers and 65 RBI.
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The Brewers announced they signed first baseman Jonathan Singleton, 30, to a minor-league deal without an invitation to big-league camp. Singleton has a checkered background including a controversial contract signed as a prospect with the Astros, a flame-out as a player and subsequent drug suspension that knocked him out of affiliated baseball.
Out of baseball from 2018-20, Singleton tried to resurrect his career by playing in the Mexican League this year for the Mexico City Red Devils. In 46 games, he batted .321 with a 1.196 OPS, 15 homers and 36 RBI.
Singleton was suspended for 50 games in the minors in 2013 for a second positive test for marijuana. After that season, the Astros added him to their 40-man roster and signed him the next year to a five-year contract guaranteeing him $10 million before playing a day in the major leagues.
Singleton struggled in 114 games with Houston in 2014-15, batting .171 with 151 strikeouts in 420 plate appearances. He returned to the minors and was released in 2018 while serving a 100-game suspension for testing positive for a drug of abuse.
The Brewers announced the signings of three minor-leaguers with invitations to big-league spring camp – outfielder Garrett Whitley, catcher Jakson Reetz and right-hander Moises Gomez. Whitley, 24, was a first-round draft pick (13th overall) in 2015 by Tampa Bay who split the ’21 season at the Class AA and AAA levels.