12:56pm: The Red Sox announced that they have claimed Kratz off waivers. Kratz will provide the team with depth now that Blake Swihart is listed as day-to-day with a sprained left foot.
12:28pm: Erik Kratz has been claimed off waivers by an unknown team, MLBTR has learned. The catcher was designated for assignment by the Royals on June 11th.
The claiming team is currently unknown, but the Mets and Red Sox both saw catchers leave the game with injury yesterday. The Mets, however, already have depth behind the plate in Kevin Plawecki and Anthony Recker, so the Red Sox might be the more probable destination.
Most of Kratz’s career has been spent with the Phillies, but he’s also had brief stints in Toronto and Kansas City. All told, Kratz has shown nice power but low batting average and on-base capabilities, as evidenced by a .217/.270/.400 batting line. He’s also a skilled pitch-framer, however, and he’s thrown out 32 percent of attempted base-stealers in his big league career.
Kratz was scheduled to return from the 15-day disabled list earlier this month but was designated for assignment before he could be called back into action for KC. Kratz would have served as Salvador Perez’s backup in Kansas City had he stayed on board, but that job has gone to Drew Butera instead.
They (Boston) already have the seemingly ageless Humberto Quintero at Pawtucket, who has MLB experience off and on since.. 2005 or so? Why sign another career MiLB retread?
Did you see Quintero plunking the batter when he tried to throw down to third base?
No, I sure didn’t. Was it in today’s game? Was watching (still am) The Boston game, rather than any of the Sox MiLB games instead, tho am going to watch the Salem game later on.
That had to be funny. Did they call interference on the hitter for not getting out of the way?