The latest minor transactions from around the majors…
- The Athletics announced the signing of right-hander Shohei Tomioka to a minor league pact earlier this week. The agreement doesn’t include an invitation to major league spring training, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. The 23-year-old Tomioka is coming over from Japan, where he pitched with an independent-level team – not in the country’s top league, Nippon Professional Baseball. He owns a four-pitch repertoire and can hit 92-95 mph with his fastball, according to Shea.
- The Padres have signed left-hander Hector Hernandez to a minor league contract, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. He’ll be at minors camp for the Padres. The 28-year-old Hernandez is a veteran of three MLB organizations (the Cardinals, Diamondbacks and Indians) who debuted in the pro ranks back in 2009 but still hasn’t reached the bigs. To this point, Hernandez has maxed out at the Triple-A level, though he has only thrown 9 1/3 innings there. Hernandez spent the majority of last year as a member of the Indians’ High-A affiliate, with which he amassed 44 2/3 frames of 2.22 ERA pitching and posted 10.07 K/9 against 3.02 BB/9.
