Dodgers sign OF Jason Heyward to minor league deal
The Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday signed outfielder Jason Heyward to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training.
Heyward, now 33, was released by the Chicago Cubs earlier this offseason.
He's a five-time Gold Glove Award winner who has been named to one All-Star Game (2010). He was a member of the 2016 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs, who ended their 108 year drought.
In 2022, Heyward hit .204 with just one home run and 10 RBIs in 137 plate appearances, by far his worst performance at the plate over his 13-year career.
However, he's never been particularly regarded for his prowess at the plate but rather in the outfield, where he was consistently among the league's best fielders in the mid-2010s. He won the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2014.
He began his career with the Atlanta Braves in 2010, where he remained until a 2015 trade sent him to the St. Louis Cardinals. At the end of the season, he signed on with the Cubs for eight years to the tune of $184 million.
Heyward played with current Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman for the first five years of his career, and the two remain good friends.
To this point, he's a career .257 hittier and has 1,422 hits, 159 home runs and 641 RBIs.