Jason Lane, who made six relief appearances when he wasn’t playing the outfield for Triple-A Las Vegas last season, will make a full-time move to the mound next season. The Diamondbacks have signed him to a minor league deal as a left-handed pitcher.
Lane hit 26 homers for the Astros as a 28-year-old back in 2005, but he hasn’t seen the majors since 2007. He’ll play next year at 35, so it’s an awfully late conversion to the mound for the former USC Trojan. But his arm will certainly be fresh.
Overall, Lane is a .241/.314/.457 hitter with 61 homers in 1,208 major league at-bats. He came in at .291/.358/.460 with six homers in 213 at-bats for Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate last season. In his 13 innings on the mound, he had a 4.85 ERA and a 12/2 K/BB ratio.
It seems like a long shot that Lane will turn into a serviceable major league reliever, but if he does, it could lead to some really interesting times in Arizona. The Diamondbacks will likely have right-hander Micah Owings back in their pen next year. It’d be fascinating to see the team try to pair the two once in a while: they could alternate between left field and the mound, with Owings facing righties and Lane taking on lefties.
