Texas Rangers Sign Pitcher Sidney Ponson to Minor League Contract

Veteran pitcher will be non-roster invitee to Major League Spring Training

03/09/2008, Surprise, Ariz. -- The Texas Rangers announced this morning that the club has signed right-handed pitcher Sidney Ponson to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training. Ponson is expected to join the Rangers' camp in Arizona tomorrow. Additionally, the Rangers have added right-handed pitcher Doug Mathis, who has been in Minor League camp, as a non-roster invitee to Major League Spring Training.

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Ponson, 31, made 7 starts for Minnesota last year, going 2-5 with a 6.93 ERA (29 ER/37.2 IP). He was designated for assignment on May 14 and given his unconditional release on May 22. His last outing in a professional game came in a loss on May 12 vs. Detroit at the Metrodome.

A longtime member of the Baltimore organization, Ponson also pitched for St. Louis and New York-AL in 2006. He has compiled at least 10 wins and over 200.0 innings in four different seasons, including a career-high 17 wins in 2003 with Baltimore and San Francisco. He has 28 career complete games, including a career-high 6 complete-game efforts in both 1999 and 2000 for the Orioles.

Ponson became just the third native of Aruba to play in the big leagues with his Major League debut on April 19, 1998 at Texas. He was originally signed by Baltimore as a non-drafted free agent on Aug. 17, 1993. The scout that originally signed Ponson for Baltimore, Jesus "Chu" Halabi, is currently an international scout for the Rangers.

Mathis, 24, is in his fourth professional season after the Rangers selected him in the 13th round of the 2005 June draft. He spent most of last season with Double-A Frisco, going 11-7 with a 3.76 ERA in 22 games/starts for the RoughRiders. Mathis also made his Triple-A debut with 3 games/2 starts for Oklahoma. He has already appeared in 3 games for the Rangers this spring, tossing 2.1 shutout innings.

With the addition of Ponson and Mathis to camp, the Rangers now have 62 players in Major League Spring Training. That figure does not include pitchers Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando, who are both on the restricted list due to visa issues in the Dominican Republic.

Source: MLB