Royals sign INF Jake Eigsti
Jake, the 26-year old older brother of Naturals' backup catcher Ryan Eigsti, is a utility infielder who comes to the Royals' system after spending the 2010 campaign with the Rockford River Hawks of the independent Northern League. He hit .253 with 11 homers and 53 RBI's for Rockford over 94 games.
Eigsti was a 29th round selection by the New York Mets in the 2006 draft out of Indiana State University. He spent 2006-2009 in the Mets system, reaching Double-A in 2009 with the Binghamton Mets, their Eastern League affiliate. In 243 games at the affiliate minor league level, mostly at the Class-A level, Eigsti has a .239 batting average to go along with four homers and 70 RBI's.
He has experience at all four infield positions and is likely to be deployed as a reserve infielder either with the Naturals or Advanced Class-A Wilmington.
The Naturals play their first spring training contest next Thursday.
The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals and play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark, located in Springdale. The 2011 season begins on Thursday, April 7th. Visit our website, nwanaturals.com, for information on season tickets and ticket plans.