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Free-agent infielder Brock Holt agrees to minor league deal with MLB's Texas Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Free-agent infielder Brock Holt has agreed to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers that includes an invitation to major league spring training.

Holt would get a $1.75 million, one-year contract if added to the 40-man roster. The 32-year-old Texas native would have the opportunity to earn an additional $750,000 in performance bonuses.

Holt was one of three players Texas added Friday on minor league deals with big league spring training invites, joining catcher/first baseman John Hicks and left-handed pitcher Hyeon-jong Yang.

Yang would get a $1.3 million, one-year contract if he is on the big league roster and the opportunity to earn $550,000 in performance bonuses.

Holt split last season with Milwaukee and Washington after the previous seven years in Boston, where he was an All-Star with the Red Sox in 2015 and was part of their World Series championship team in 2018. He made his big league debut with Pittsburgh in 2012.

In 675 career games, Holt has hit .268 with 23 home runs and 211 RBIs while playing every position except catcher -- he even made two pitching appearances for the Nationals last season. His most games have been at second base, where he started 196 games.

Hicks was released by Arizona last September after being at the Diamondbacks' alternate training site and not seeing any big league action. He has a .235 career batting average with 28 homers and 90 RBIs over 254 big league games with Seattle (2015) and Detroit (2016-19).

Yang has spent his entire 14-year professional career with the Kia Tigers in the Korea Baseball Organization, and is looking for his first MLB action. He went 11-10 with a 4.70 ERA and 149 strikeouts over 31 starts with the Tigers last season. He was a 16-game winner in 2019.