Twins sign 1B Jeff Clement

The Minnesota Twins have signed first baseman Jeff Clement to a minor league contract, reports Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:

The #MNTwins signed 1B Jeff Clement to a Minor League deal. He hit .276/.340/.486 with 16 HRs at AAA (Pittsburgh) in '12.

— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) November 26, 2012

Clement appeared in 23 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates last season, collecting three hits, including one double, and one RBI over 22 at-bats. The 29-year-old spent most of the season with the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate, hitting .276/.340/.486 with 35 doubles, two triples and 16 home runs over 416 at-bats.

The Seattle Mariners made Clement the third-overall pick in the 2005 MLB Draft. He was regarded as one of the top catching prospects in the game all the way up to the start of the 2008 season. The next summer he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates along with Aaron Pribanic, Brett Lorin, Nathan Adcock and Ronny Cedeno in exchange for Ian Snell and Jack Wilson.

Since the trade, Clement has appeared in 77 games at the major league level with the Pirates, hitting .193/.233/.343 over 166 at-bats.