HOUSTON – The Houston Astros have signed outfielder Josh Reddick.
Reddick, 29, has played for the Red Sox (2009-11), A’s (2012-16) and Dodgers (2016) during his career.
In 2012, he received a Rawlings Gold Glove Award while hitting 32 home runs as a member of the Oakland A’s. Reddick, Mike Trout and Giancarlo Stanton are the only outfielders in the Majors who have posted at least 2.4 wins above replacement in every season since 2012.
Reddick spoke to the media on Wednesday.
"This is the most exciting day in baseball for me," he said. "For this being my first time in free agency, or maybe winning the division."
Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said manager A.J. Hinch and Reddick have talked about outfield alignment, but both Springer and Reddick are good with wherever they place them.
The left-handed hitter set single-season career highs in both batting average (.281) and on-base percentage (.345) across 115 games in 2016.
. @RealJoshReddick says he and #twitterlessSpringer are very similar 'run-through-thru-a-wall' type outfielder. #Astros
— Adam Wexler (@KPRC2AdamW) November 23, 2016
After batting .296 with a .368 on-base percentage in 68 games with Oakland, Reddick was traded to the Dodgers. Reddick went on to play in 47 games during the regular season with the Dodgers, and appeared in 10 of the club’s 11 postseason games in which he hit .308 (8x26).
Reddick batted .322 against right-handed pitchers, which ranked eighth among all Major League hitters (min. 300 PA). He also posted a .386 on-base percentage, .485 slugging percentage and .871 OPS against right-handed pitchers in 2016.
The Astros also traded for catcher Brian McCann, signed pitcher Charlie Morton and picked up the option year on designated hitter Evan Gattis.
"We're not done by any stretch of the imagination. We like what we've done so far," Luhnow said.