Cardinals sign J.R. Towles

The St. Louis Cardinals have signed catcher J.R. Towles to a minor league contract, reports Ken Davidoff of The New York Daily News:

The #Cardinals have signed catcher J.R. Towles to a minor-league deal with an invitation to spring training.

— Ken Davidoff (@KenDavidoff) December 19, 2012

Davidoff adds that Towles’ new deal with the Cardinals includes an invitation to major league spring training.

Towles signed with the Minnesota Twins last offseason after spending his entire professional career as a member of the Houston Astros. The 28-year-old appeared in 52 games with the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in 2012, hitting .214/.280/.315 with 14 doubles and one home run over 168 at-bats.

Over parts of nine seasons at the minor league level Towles has a career line of .286/.382/.448.

Towles saw his most extensive period of playing time at the major league level in 2011 with the Astros. That season the catcher hit .184/.256/.293 with seven doubles and three home runs. He hit .187/.267/.315 over parts of five seasons in the bigs.