The Rockies have signed catcher Michael McKenry to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invitation, tweets Troy Renck of the Denver Post. McKenry will earn $750K if he makes the MLB roster.
The 28-year-old McKenry opened some eyes with his 2012 season, when he hit .233/.320/.442 with 12 home runs in 275 plate appearances for the Pirates. With strong defense, McKenry notched a robust 1.7 fWAR in that limited action. Last year, however, McKenry only earned 122 trips to the plate for the Bucs and saw his triple-slash slip to .217/.262/.348. The Oliver projection system likes McKenry to put up 2.1 fWAR if he were trusted as a starter.
The signing offers additional flexibility to a Rockies club whose young, slugging backstop — Wilin Rosario — has had his issues behind the dish. Colorado had dabbled in the higher-priced free agent backstop market earlier in the offseason, reportedly pursuing Brian McCann and Carlos Ruiz, but apparently decided against a major addition after seeing its top choices sign elsewhere.
Nice to see him land a job. Hopefully he is able to make the 25 man roster.
McKenry is one of the best people in baseball, one of those guys you just wanna root for. Best of luck Mike!
Yinz guys will love The Fort up there in Colorado an’at.
We already know and love him. He used to play here before he went to Pitt to play for good ol’ Hurdle.
Plus, make sure he gets a spot on your post game show. He was great in that role here, after he went down.
glad he gets to reestablish himself for the franchise that drafted him. i’m certain he’ll make the opening day roster for a relatively competitive rockies team in ’14.
The Rockies seem set on the Rosario/Pacheco catching duo although I would be thrilled if McKenry pushed Pacheco down to AAA.
“The Fort” is a fun guy to root for. Best of luck, Mike.
Good to see him back. Didn’t know why we ever let him walk. He is one of those Cuddy type players who play the game well. Hopefully this will allow Pacheco to go down to AAA or do a straight up platoon with Justin at 1B.
Loved the Fort here and his HR off Marmol was one of the best things i’ve seen live but my god what a disaster he’d be as a full time backstop. I don’t know how decent the Rox’ staff is at holding runners but methinks teams would run on him all day with success.
Mike McKenry is a good egg. I know he was really happy with Pittsburgh and wanted to raise his family there, but I hope he can find that same happiness with the Rockies. Best of luck!
He was drafted by the Rox and spent a number of years here. He is very familiar here as well.
I’m a Bucco fan to the core, but I’ll be rooting for the Rockies a good bit if The Fort makes the major league roster. Just an incredible guy – I know he spent some time there, so you got a glimpse – who has really come into his own over the past three years. Very sad to see him and the Pirates part ways, but thrilled to see he has a shot in the spring with a good franchise that knows what he can do. Clutch hitter, amazing community guy. Enjoy The Fort!
strong defense, they need to check that metric, the guy cant throw anyone out