Alexander Canario Signs With NPB’s Seibu Lions

The Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball announced the signing of outfielder Alexander Canario earlier this month. He had been non-tendered by the Pirates at the end of the season.

Canario, 25, heads overseas for the first time in his career. A notable prospect during his time in the Cubs system, he plateaued in the upper minors because of increasing strikeout concerns. Canario never got much of a big league look in Chicago and bounced around a bit last winter. The Cubs traded him to the Mets in February. New York designated him for assignment on Opening Day and flipped him to Pittsburgh for cash considerations.

The Bucs kept the out-of-options Canario on their roster all season. He played in a little over half their games and tallied a career-high 234 plate appearances. Canario struggled to a .218/.274/.338 slash while striking out 80 times (34.2%). Among hitters with 200+ trips to the dish, only Luke Raley, Gabriel Arias, Michael A. Taylor and Christopher Morel swung and missed more frequently. Canario graded well defensively in his 521 innings split between the three outfield spots, but the lack of offense and roster flexibility led the Bucs to drop him.

Canario takes a career .252/.345/.521 Triple-A batting line to NPB. He has connected on 32 home runs in 120 games at the top minor league level. He’s an above-average runner with a plus arm and significant raw power. It’s the kind of profile that generally plays better in foreign leagues, where the average velocity and strikeout rate is lower than it is MLB. Canario would have been limited to minor league offers had he remained in affiliated ball, and his out-of-options status meant he’d likely have bounced around the waiver wire even if he hit his way back onto a team’s 40-man roster.