Rays, Rangers, Diamondbacks In Catchers

With the commerce deadline quickly approaching, there are nonetheless many shifting items. Joel Sherman of The New York Put up (Twitter hyperlinks) experiences that the Rays, Marlins, Rangers and Diamondbacks are within the catching market, with Austin Hedges of the Pirates a speculative match. It was reported in June that the Marlins have been keeping track of the catching market.

Hedges, 30, has by no means offered a lot offensively, with a profession batting line of .189/.247/.323 courting again to 2015. This yr’s line of .180/.237/.230 is even decrease than his profession output. However he’s all the time garnered consideration as a glove-first backstop. He has profession tallies of 83 Defensive Runs Saved and a grade of 77.3 from the FanGraphs framing metric. The previous determine is tops within the majors for that stretch whereas the latter locations him third.

Regardless of that robust defensive work, there can be logic within the Pirates shifting on. They’re at the moment 9 video games out of a playoff spot with a report of 47-58. Hedges is on a one-year, $5MM deal and is an impending free agent. They’ve already traded one other impending free agent in Carlos Santana and reportedly have a deal in place to ship Wealthy Hill and Ji Man Choi to the Padres as they strategy the open market as nicely. With catching prospects Henry Davis and Endy Rodríguez already on the large league degree, it is smart to ship Hedges elsewhere and let these two take the reins.

The listed suitors all make sense attributable to current accidents. The Rays misplaced Francisco Mejía to a left knee MCL sprain about two weeks in the past, leaving them with Christian Bethancourt and René Pinto as the one wholesome backstops on their 40-man roster. The Diamondbacks are in an identical place after inserting Gabriel Moreno on the IL a couple of week in the past attributable to shoulder irritation, leaving them with Carson Kelly and José Herrera. The Rangers just lately misplaced Jonah Heim to the injured checklist attributable to a wrist situation and surgical procedure continues to be potential, leaving them with Mitch Garver and Sam Huff as their well being choices on the roster.

Any of these golf equipment can be a wise addition for additional catching assist, as they’re every at the moment in possession of a playoff spot. Aside from Hedges, some catchers that might be obtainable embrace Yasmani Grandal, Elias Díaz, Joey Bart, Víctor Caratini, Iván Herrera, Tom Murphy and Omar Narváez.