Yankees sign 1B Lyle Overbay

The New York Yankees today announced they have signed first baseman Lyle Overbay to a minor league contract.  He is expected to join the team at Major League spring training at Steinbrenner Field.

Overbay, 36, was batting .220 (9-for-41) with five runs, one double, two triples and seven RBI in 19 spring training contests as a non-roster invitee with the Boston Red Sox before being released earlier today.

In 2012, the left-handed batter combined to hit .259 (30-for-116) with two home runs and 10 RBI in 65 games between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Braves.

Overbay has hit .270 (1,188-for-4,399) with 133 home runs and 581 RBI in 1,324 career games with Arizona (2001-03), Milwaukee (2004-05), Toronto (2006-10), Pittsburgh (2011), Arizona (2011-12) and Atlanta (2012).  Along with Miguel Cabrera, Raul Ibanez, Albert Pujols, Mark Teixeira and Michael Young, he was one of only six Major League players to hit at least 30 doubles in each of seven straight seasons from 2004-10.  Since 2004, his 290 doubles rank fourth among Major League first baseman.

He owns a .995 career fielding pct. at first base (59 errors in 11,227 total chances), the seventh-highest mark among Major League first basemen with at least 1,000 games played at the position since 2003.  Since 2004, he has appeared in 1,147 games at first base, the fourth-most such contests in the Majors behind only Pujols (1,330), Teixeira (1,304) and Paul Konerko (1,157).

Originally selected by the Diamondbacks in the 18th round of the 1999 First-Year Player Draft, Overbay has batted .311 (19-for-61) with three home runs in 18 games at the current Yankee Stadium.