Diamondbacks sign veteran shortstop to minor league contract

The Diamondbacks announced that infielder Elvis Andrus has been signed to a minor league contract. Andrus receives an invitation to Arizona’s big league spring training camp.

Andrus joins Kevin Newman as a veteran non-roster signing battling for a backup role on the Arizona roster. Geraldo Perdomo has already been tapped as the everyday shortstop for at least the beginning of the season. 

Andrus and Newman can both play shortstop, which perhaps provides some kind of edge for one of them to beat out Emmanuel Rivera or Jace Peterson for a bench job.

Few players in the sport today have as much shortstop experience as Andrus, who has logged 17,010 innings at the position over his 15 Major League Baseball seasons.  

Andrus had never played a position other than shortstop before last season when he logged 404 innings at his usual position but also 499 2/3 innings at second base and 27 frames at third base when playing for the White Sox.

An excellent defender back in his prime with the Rangers, Andrus’ public defensive metrics have had some variance over the years, though he can still handle the glove well enough to get by in a backup capacity. 

The Outs Above Average metric has almost always been very favorable about his work as a shortstop and second baseman, the Defensive Runs Saved metric has been generally down on Andrus’ glovework and UZR/150 is about somewhere in the middle.  

The 2023 season saw Andrus post +4 OAA, +0.2 UZR/150 and a -2 DRS at shortstop, and +2 OAA, -1.6 UZR/150 and 0 DRS as a second baseman.

Andrus’ output at the plate has been inconsistent at best during his career, and he hit .251/.304/.358 over 406 plate appearances in 2023 for a subpar 81 wRC+. 

This isn’t far off his career .269/.325/.370 mark and 86 wRC+, though it is safe to guess that the D-Backs are focusing more on Andrus’ defensive value ahead of what he can add at the plate.

It isn’t necessarily a surprise that the 35-year-old Andrus couldn’t find a guaranteed deal coming off an underwhelming season, though this does mark the first minor league deal of his career.  

Andrus’ past top prospect status painted him as a cornerstone for the Rangers, who signed him to a pair of extensions — a three-year, $14.4M pact covering the 2012-14 seasons, and then a big eight-year, $120M deal for the 2015-22 seasons.  

Even after that mega-deal expired, Andrus still landed a $3M guarantee from the White Sox last winter.