The Saitama Seibu Lions announced the signing of Jesus Aguilar on Thursday.
Aguilar, 33, has nearly 800 MLB games in his career spanning across 10 seasons. Most notably he won a fan vote for the 2018 MLB All Star game with the Milwaukee Brewers.
In 2023, Aguilar started the season with the Oakland Athletics before being designated for assignment in May. He spent the rest of 2023 in the Atlanta Braves minor league system at the AAA level with a slash line of .271/.373/.379.
With the recent loss of Hotaka Yamakawa to free agency, the Lions will slot Aguilar at the 1B position which also replaces David MacKinmon's roster spot.
On paper, he has potential to provide more pop, a Lions team who lacked power hitting had MacKinnon leading the way at 15 HRs in 2023.
By default, Aguilar becomes a core-4 player on an anemic offense and will be a critical reason the Lions will have success or falter. He's the highest paid foreigners at just north of ¥210 million with the most experience.
Home runs came at a premium and the Lions believe he can be the cleanup hitter the team was missing last year.
The Lions also signed pitcher Jefry Yan, as the team now has five foreigners under contract joining Aguilar, Franchy Cordero and Albert Abreu. Yan saw AAA as the highest level of baseball with some shares of dominance in AA.
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