WICHITA, Kan.– The Kansas City T-Bones announced that the club has signed catcher Tony Caldwell, and that he will join the club in Wichita for the opener of the four-game series with the Wingnuts Monday night.

Tony Caldwell, was the 24^th round pick in the 2011 MLB Draft of the Florida Marlins out of Auburn University. The Florida native started this season with the St. Paul Saints, where he hit .194 with three home runs and 11 RBIs, before being released on June 10^th. In 2016, he played in 67 games, hitting 12 long balls and driving in 47, with an average of .256, for the Saints.  

He was named player of the week by Pointstreak for the American Association on June 20^th of last season, after hitting .500 (9-for-18) with four home runs, 12 RBI and seven runs scored. On June 18,^, 2016, Caldwell went 4-for-5 with two home runs and five RBI in a 11-5 win at Winnipeg. The next day helped the Saints sweep Winnipeg as he launched his third home run in two days going 2-for-4 with three RBIs in a 6-1 victory.

Caldwell, is no stranger to T-Bones Manager Joe Calfapietra, having played for the current T-Bones “skipper” for two seasons in the CAN-AM League with New Jersey, while Calfapietra was leading the Jackals. In 157 games, over two seasons, he drove in 74 runs hitting seven home runs. He hit .282 in 80 games in 2015 for New Jersey with a career high 42 RBIs.  In 238 at bats he knocked 12 doubles, two triples, had a .395 on base percentage and a .387 slugging percentage.  He finished second in the Can-Am League hit by pitches (19) and among catchers he was first in total chances (659) and put outs (630).

“Tony (Caldwell) played for me in New Jersey and he became available and it was something that we wanted to go and pursue,” said Joe Calfapietra. “Tony was interested in coming in here and we had both parties interested and we had a fit.”

Caldwell spent 2011-2013 with the Marlins organization advancing as high as A ball in the South Atlantic League with Greensboro. In his rookie season, he hit .306 in 32 games in the GCL and moved on to Greensboro the following year in 2012. While in the South Atlantic League, he hit .238 with a homer and 12 RBIs. In 2013, he spent six games at the rookie level GCL but the majority of the time he was back with Greensboro hitting .182 in 54 games, with three home runs and 23 RBIs. In parts of seven minor league seasons Caldwell has caught 22% of would be base runners (84 of 274).

The T-Bones open a 4-game road trip Monday night in Wichita. Hear all the action on the T-Bones Broadcast Network online at tbonesbaseball.com. The team returns home on Friday night June 17^th to begin a 10 game homestand.