The Kansas City Royals announced today that they have signed infielder Clint Barmes, left-handed pitcher Brian Duensing and right-handed pitcher Ross Ohlendorf to a minor league contracts, with all three including an invitation to Major League Spring Training.
Barmes, 36, played in 98 games with San Diego last season, batting .232 with 14 doubles, a triple and three home runs. The right-handed hitting batted .333 (17-for-51) with seven doubles and a homer during June, while he also hit .296 in the month of April last season. The 13-year Major League veteran spent the first eight years of his career with the Colorado Rockies and has also made stops in Houston (2011), Pittsburgh (2012-14) followed by his season with the Padres. He's a career .245 hitter with 208 doubles, 17 triples, 89 homers and 415 RBI in 1,186 games. His best season came in 2009, when he set career highs in hits (135), doubles (32), homers (23), RBI (76) and runs scored (69).
Duensing, 32, has spent his entire big league career with the Minnesota Twins, posting a 4-1 record with a 4.25 ERA in 55 relief appearances last season. Between July 1 and August 31, he recorded a 2.14 ERA and held the opposition to a .192 batting average (14-for-73), which ranked 11th among A.L. relievers in that span. The seven-year veteran enters the 2016 seasons with a career mark of 41-37 and a 4.13 ERA. He's held left-handed hitters to a .238 average (201-for-846) in his career. Duensing won a career-high 10 games as a starting pitcher (10-3) in 2010, while his 73 relief appearances in 2013 were seventh-most in the American League that season.
A native of Marysville, Kan., Duensing attended the University of Nebraska where he a teammates of Alex Gordon's.
Ohlendorf, 33, had two stints with the Texas Rangers last year, posting a 3-1 record with a 3.72 ERA in 21 relief appearances. He was part of the Rangers' September call-ups and went 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA over his final 13 appearances of the season. A nine-year Major League veteran, Ohlendorf has pitched for the New York Yankees (2007-08), Pittsburgh (2008-11), San Diego (2012), Washington (2013-14) and Texas (2015) in his career. The righty is 25-34 with a 4.84 ERA in 145 career appearances, which includes 80 starts. His best season came in 2009 with the Pirates where he went 11-10 with a 3.92 ERA in 29 starts. Ohlendorf, originally a fourth round pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004 out of Princeton University, joins a staff that features fellow Princeton alum Chris Young.