Blue Jays sign outfielder Domonic Brown to minor-league contract

DUNEDIN, Fla. – The Toronto Blue Jays added some depth to their outfield on Thursday, signing former National League all-star Domonic Brown to a minor-league contract with a spring training invitation.

Brown appeared in 63 games for the Philadelphia Phillies last season, posting a .228 batting average with five home runs and 25 runs batted in.

“We’re going to bring him into camp and see what he can do and see what he’s got left,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “We’re concentrating on adding depth to different positions in the organization and we’ll see how it all works out.”

The 28-year-old left-handed hitter has appeared in 493 games over six seasons with the Phillies. He has a career .246 average with 54 home runs, 229 RBIs and 23 stolen bases.

Brown, the Phillies’ 20th-round selection in the 2006 amateur draft, opened last season on the disabled list with an Achilles tendon injury. He did not play after Sept. 2 because of a concussion.

Brown decided to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to the minors after the season.

He is expected to compete for the fourth outfield spot with Junior Lake, Ezequiel Carrera, and Canadian Dalton Pompey, who made the team out of spring training last year but struggled to find his groove in the early going.

The Blue Jays demoted the 23-year-old native of Mississauga, Ont., to triple-A in May but he returned as a September call-up, where the speedy outfielder excelled in primarily a pinch-runner role.

“Really with Dalton we just want to make sure he’s good and ready,” Gibbons said. “You don’t want to be in a situation where he’s on the team and the next thing you know you’ve got to send him out again. That happened one time and hopefully that’s enough.”

— With files from The Associated Press