The Indians announced today that they have traded catcher Anthony Recker to the Braves in exchange for cash considerations. The former Mets backstop will begin his return to the NL East at Triple-A Gwinnett, per the announcement. ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin tweets that Recker had an opt-out clause in his minor league deal looming.
Recker, 32, spent the previous three seasons with the Mets organization and seen significant in the Majors from 2013-15, appearing in 140 games. In that time, Recker totaled 432 plate appearances and batted a combined .190/.256/.350 with 15 home runs. Recker is a considerably more accomplished hitter at the Triple-A level, though, where he’s batted .274/.361/.481 in 1428 plate appearances, including a .246/.395/.426 start to the 2016 season with Triple-A Columbus. He’ll serve as a depth option for the Braves, who currently have A.J. Pierzynski and Tyler Flowers catching at the big league level. Interestingly, Atlanta already has multiple catchers with minor league track records at the Triple-A level in the form of Ryan Lavarnway and Blake Lalli, though Lalli has seen quite a bit of time at first base this season in addition to his time behind the dish.
Hopefully this is a precursor to the Braves moving on from A.J. Pierzynski and going with Flowers and Lavarnway. Neither will hit much, but Pierzynski is just a terrible catcher at this point and hasn’t hit enough to stick around.
Agreed, hope this is the beginning of movement.
I do not completely understand this move. Although Recker did get most of his hits with the Mets against the Braves. This guy seems to be a “4 A” player. The Braves already have similar players for no cost. I do not recall him being a complete stud behind the plate. Interesting to see what move flows this deal.
Who cares, the braves are full of replacement players right now it cost the braves barley anything to acquire him, he might hit 225 which is much better than aj. We have nothing to loose because all we do is loose.
*lose
Hart is setting the Braves up for another trade. Catching is at a premium this year, so he might be able to flip AJ at the trade deadline for another prospect. Then all these AAAA catchers might be an option to be called up for a couple months.
Why does everyone still call for Hart as GM?
I smell a trade coming off the Major League roster
No trade Recker is a bat first catcher he is straight up depth at AAA in case AJ or Flowers sees some time on the DL
We do need to do something about getting a catcher of the future or maybe they are wsiting til the off season to throw money at Weiters.
Is he even a “bat first” catcher though? He’s OPS Plus is like below 70 (lololooool)…
His*
So valuable the Tribe just lost their own backup Cather for 3 months and opted to trade for a different AAA catcher instead of promoting Recker.
he’s a decent backstop with some pop but otherwise not a bat you could start regularly. He was a popular backup for the Mets. Recker is a good backup catcher.