Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre wins 2012 American League Rawlings Platinum Glove Award

Arlington, Texas – Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre has been named the winner of the 2012 American League Rawlings Platinum Glove Award.  The announcement was made during the 2012 Rawlings Gold Glove Award Ceremony presented by Gold Sport Collectibles this past Friday at The Plaza Hotel in New York City.
 
Beltre also won the inaugural A.L. Rawlings Platinum Glove Award in 2011, as he has taken league honors in both years that it has been presented.  A vote at www.rawlings.com allowed fans to select one player among the 2012 Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners from each league as “The Finest in the Field®”.
 
This year’s honor goes with Beltre’s fourth career Gold Glove Award, which made him one of six third basemen in American League history to win the honor at least four times.
 
RANGERS AGREE TO TERMS WITH FIVE PLAYERS: The Rangers have agreed to terms with the following five players on minor league contracts with invitations to major league spring training: C Juan Apodaca, OF Jim Adduci, LHP Neal Cotts, OF Aaron Cunningham, and RHP Yonata Ortega.
 
Apodaca, 26, has a career .251 average over 8 minor league seasons in the Los Angeles-NL, Boston, Cleveland, and Chicago-NL farm systems.  The Venezuela native combined to hit .291 with 2 homers and 29 RBI in 83 games with Tennessee (AA) and Iowa (AAA) in the Cubs organization in 2012.
 
Adduci, 27, is a career .282 hitter over 9 minor league campaigns with Florida and Chicago-NL.  He combined to hit .298 with 7 homers and 44 RBI in 126 games last year with Tennessee (AA) and Iowa (AAA).  Born in British Columbia, he graduated from high school in suburban Chicago and was selected by Florida in the 42nd round of the 2004 June draft, where he was signed by current Rangers scout Scot Engler.
 
Cotts, 32, returns to the Texas organization after originally joining the club on a minor league contract on February 20, 2012.  He pitched professionally for the first time since 2009, going 2-1 with 3 saves and a 4.55 ERA (16 ER/31.2 IP) in 25 relief appearances for Triple-A Round Rock.  He suffered a strained left latissimus dorsi muscle near the end of spring training and spent the year in the Pacific Coast League.  In his major league career, Cotts is 10-12 with a 4.63 ERA (132 ER/256.1 IP) in 284 games/5 starts with Chicago-AL (2003-06) and Chicago-NL (2007-09).  He had a career year with the White Sox during that club's 2005 World Championship run, going 4-0 with a career-low 1.94 ERA (13 ER/60.1 IP) in 69 games.  He appeared in all 4 World Series games for the Sox in 2005, earning the win in Game 2.
 
Cunningham, 26, played in 72 games with Cleveland in 2012, batting .175 with one homer and 7 RBI.  He was designed for assignment on July 25 and outrighted to the minors on July 28.  He spent the balance of the year at Triple-A Columbus, batting .203 in 22 games.  Born in Alaska, Cunningham has played in the major leagues each of the past 5 seasons, compiling a career .219 average with Oakland (2008-09), San Diego (2010-11) and Cleveland (2012).  He was originally selected by Chicago-AL in the 6th round of the 2005 June draft.
 
Ortega, who turned 26 yesterday, has spent his entire professional career in the Arizona farm system since being signed as a non-drafted free agent in 2004.  The Dominican native made 42 relief appearances with Double-A Mobile in 2012, going 2-2 with a 6.88 ERA (40 ER/52.1 IP).
 
WINTER LEAGUE UPDATES
 
Dominican Winter League: OF Engel Beltre (Licey) has tallied a RBI in 4 straight games, batting .538 (7-13) with a double, 2 triples, and 6 RBI during that stretch to raise his league-best average to .392…INF Jurickson Profar (Licey) hit a walk-off home run in Licey’s 5-4 victory over Escogido on Sunday and is hitting .333 (4-12) through his first 3 games…OF Leonys Martin has reached base via hit or walk in 9 straight games, batting .361 (13-36) with 5 walks during the streak.
 
Arizona Fall League: INF Hanser Alberto has hit safely in 7 straight games at .483 (14-29) to raise his season average to .360, 3rd-best in the league…1B Chris McGuiness leads the league with 25 RBI…RHP Ryan Rodebaugh has compiled 8.0 scoreless innings with 7 strikeouts over his last 6 relief appearances…Rodebaugh has recorded at least one strikeout in each of his 9 appearances with the Saguaros.
 
Puerto Rican Winter League: The Puerto Rican Winter League opened action on Thursday and 8 members of the Texas organization have appeared for the Ponce club…C Jorge Alfaro is batting .500 (6-12) with a double and 3 RBI through his first 3 games…INF/OF Brandon Snyder is also batting .500 (3-6) with 2 doubles, a home run, 4 RBI, and 3 walks in his first 2 games…LHP Tim Murphy tossed 1.2 innings of scoreless relief on Sunday to earn a victory.
 
Mexican Winter League: C Jose Felix is batting .387 (12-31) with 3 doubles and 7 RBI in 11 games for Guasave.
 
Venezuelan Winter League: RHP Wilfredo Boscan leads the league with a 0.81 ERA (2 ER/22.1 IP) in 5 games/starts for Zulia.