Outfielder Kevin Mench has signed a one-year contract with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Central League for the 2009 season. The deal is reportedly worth $1.8 million.
The 30-year-old Mench hit .243 in 51 games for the Toronto Blue Jays last season. He has a career batting average of .269 with 89 homers and 330 RBIs in 702 MLB games with the Jays, Milwaukee Brewers and Texas Rangers. He hit 51 homers and drove in 144 runs for the Rangers between 2004 and 2005.
Mench was named the America East Conference Player of the Year in both 1998 and 1999 while playing college ball for the University of Delaware, and earned Baseball America’s Class A Player of the Year honors in 2000 with the Rangers’ Florida State League affiliate in Port Charlotte after batting .334 and leading the league in six offensive categories. His brother-in-law is Colorado Rockies outfielder Scott Podsednik.
Mench is expected to replace import Lew Ford in the Hanshin lineup after Ford struggled to a .225 average with just three homers in 47 games for the Tigers in 2008.
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