Former Detroit Tigers first baseman Bligh Madris has signed a minor-league deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.
It has been a busy week for Madris, who turns 30 later this month. He was a standout performer in the Caribbean Series, helping lead his winter ball team, the Charros de Jalisco, to the title on Saturday.
Madris spent parts of three seasons in the Detroit Tigers organization and was in big-league camp as recently as last year. He was briefly a Tiger in 2023 after being acquired and then lost via waivers, but made more substantial contributions after re-signing on a minor-league deal before the 2024 season.
Selected from Toledo to make his Tigers debut on July 21, 2024, Madris hit .269 with a .683 OPS, three doubles, and one home run in 75 plate appearances before being demoted when the Tigers brought back Spencer Torkelson on Aug. 17.
Madris later joined the Tigers in Cleveland before Game 5 of the 2024 Division Series amid uncertainty surrounding Kerry Carpenter’s hamstring injury. He took batting practice but was never activated.
Madris was dropped from the 40-man roster in November but returned to the organization on a minor-league deal for the 2025 season. He didn’t hit as well at Triple-A Toledo in 2025 and was released last August.
Madris is the first big-league baseball player of Palauan descent. Palau is an island microstate in the western Pacific, about 800 miles from Guam. It is an independent country that has a Compact of Free Association with the United States.