Next week, the reigning American League champion Cleveland Indians will open their spring training camp in Arizona. Here are the reporting dates for all 30 teams.
Among the players who will report to camp with the Indians this year is slugging outfielder Wily Mo Pena, who last played in MLB in 2011. The team has signed him to a minor-league contract.
We've signed OF Wily Mo Peña to a one-year minor-league contract. He has 84 career home runs in eight MLB seasons: https://t.co/Hcyg5LBnFYpic.twitter.com/3Z4W59qJB7
— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) February 6, 2017
Pena, who turned 35 last month, spent the 2012-15 seasons in Japan, where he hit .264/.355/.460 with 71 home runs in 450 games. It doesn't appear he played anywhere in 2016.
Once upon a time Pena was baseball's preeminent power-hitting prospect. Baseball America ranked him among the top 100 prospects in the game each year from 1999-2002, mostly because he could do things like this when he connects:
Unfortunately, Pena has never made enough contact in his career, which is why he had a hard time sticking in the big leagues despite his awesome power.
The odds are strongly against Pena making the Indians' roster out of spring training, but hopefully we still get to see him crush some long Cactus League home runs next month. Few can hit a baseball as far as Wily Mo.
