(Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images)
Matthew Tallarini
Former Major League Baseball outfielder Andrew Stevenson signed with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters for the 2024 Nippon Professional Baseball regular season, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported on Wednesday.
Stevenson, 29, was born in Lafayette, La and played for the Minnesota Twins last season during his sixth MLB season and elected free agency October 23.
In 2023, Stevenson played between Triple-A St. Paul and the Twins. In 25 games with the Twins he batted .189 in 40 plate appearances recording seven hits, one double, one RBI, two walks, and eight strikeouts. With Triple-A St. Paul played in 106 games with 470 plate appearances batting .317 recording 132 hits, 23 doubles, seven triples, 16 home runs, 57 RBI, 44 stolen bases, 42 walks, 97 strikeouts, and a .916 OPS.
He spent the 2022 season with Triple-A Rochester in the Washington Nationals organization batting .279 in 135 games with 604 plate appearances recording 152 hits, 31 doubles, nine triples, 16 home runs, 67 RBI, 39 stolen bases, 46 walks, 136 strikeouts, and a .801 OPS prior to him signing with the Twins to a minor league contract on March 8, 2023.
Stevenson spent his whole professional career with the Nationals prior to the 2023 regular season. He was drafted in the 2015 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft in the second round by the Nationals out of Louisiana State University after his junior season and signed on June 25, 2015 prior to him playing his first professional season in 2015 with the Class-A Hagerstown Suns of the South Atlantic League.
Stevenson made his major league debut on July 23, 2017 for the Nationals and has played six seasons in between MLB and the Triple-A Level during his career.
In his six seasons in Triple-A from 2017-23, Stevenson has played in 485 games batting .290 with 2,127 plate appearances smacking 556 hits, 92 doubles, 29 triples, 48 home runs, 230 RBI, 117 stolen bases, 165 walks, 467 strikeouts, and a .796 OPS.
During his six seasons in MLB from 2017-23, Stevenson played in 273 games with 489 plate appearances batting .243 recording 105 hits, 19 doubles, two triples, eight home runs, 50 RBI, nine stolen bases, 39 walks, 134 strikeouts, and a .688 OPS.
Stevenson played with the Nationals in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic 60-game regular season in Major League Baseball with the minor leagues not operating for a full regular season during that year span with only alternate sites being designated for organizations taxi-squad players and certain players that were on the 40-man roster throughout all the 30 organizations.
All 12 NPB teams will report to training camp during the middle of January prior to the start of the 2024 regular season.
The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters will host the Chiba Lotte Marines at Es Con Field on March 29 for their first game of the 2024 NPB regular season.