BLUE JAYS SIGN VIZQUEL

By ROCKET SPORTS and ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK on January 23, 2012

The TORONTO BLUE JAYS have signed INF OMAR VIZQUEL to a minor league deal for 2012 with an invite to Major League spring training.

VIZQUEL, 44, has appeared in 2,908 games over a 23 year career with five teams (Seattle, Cleveland, San Francisco, Texas and Chicago), and is currently 159 hits short of 3,000. The Caracas, Venezuela native is the all-time leader in games played at shortstop and holds 11 Gold Gloves, including nine consecutive from 1993-2001 and his .985 fielding percentage is the highest in Major League history at the position (min 3,500 chances). The switch hitter is 45^th on the all-time it list and owns the distinction of having the most hits for any Venezuelan born player, passing Luis Aparicio in 2009.