The Kansas City T-Bones and manager Tim Doherty have announced that all-star outfielder and former Pittsburgh Pirate Ray Sadler will return to Kansas City for the 2011 season.

Sadler, 30, was named to the 2010 Northern League Post-Season All-Star Team in his first season of independent baseball. The former major leaguer hit .318/.372/.569 with 23 home runs and 83 RBI while missing just three games for Kansas City. Sadler ended the season tied with teammate Jacob Blackwood for the league lead in runs and finished in a tie for second in both total bases (222) and extra-base hits (51). He was also third in RBI and fifth in slugging while posting the eighth-highest league average. Sadler earned Player of the Week honors twice during the campaign.

“Ray was one of the most consistent players in the league in 2010,” Doherty said. “He was an integral part of our success last season.”

Sadler was originally drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 30th round of the 1999 amateur draft. He was later traded to the Pirates for Randall Simon on August 17, 2003 and made his major league debut with Pittsburgh at Arizona on May 8, 2005.