The Blue Jays and veteran catcher Erik Kratz have agreed to a minor league pact, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. He’ll join Triple-A Buffalo and provide the organization with some depth behind the plate. Kratz was designated for assignment by Pittsburgh last week and elected free agency rather than accepting an outright assignment to the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate.
Kratz, 36, has spent time with the Astros and Pirates at the big league level this season but struggled to a .094/.105/.153 batting line in 87 plate appearances. He entered the season with 23 home runs and a .218/.270/.397 batting line as a Major Leaguer though, demonstrating solid pop for a catcher even if his average and OBP skills are typically lacking. He’s also halted an above-average 34 percent of stolen base attempts against him over the life of his career and drawn consistently strong marks in the pitch-framing department from Baseball Prospectus.
This will be the second stint with the Blue Jays for the Jackson Management Group client, who appeared in 34 games with Toronto back in 2014. Kratz will join Tony Sanchez and A.J. Jimenez in a now somewhat crowded catching mix at Triple-A.
Good pickup. Should Martin get injured, I’d be more comfortable with Kratz stepping in everyday over Thole, Sanchez or Jimenez
When a player elects Free Agency over being assigned to the minors, does he still keep his contract? If so, now that he has signed with a new team, are the Pirates still on the hook for paying him minues the veterans minimum that the Blue Jays now pick up?
Not a contract expert but I believe if the player elects FA, the contract they had is gone. That is why Jose Tabata always accepted the assignments when he was DFA’d by the Pirates.
Jays now the Pirates North for catchers??
Erik Kratz was on the Blue Jays back in 2014
I know but 3 guys who caught for the Pirates are now catching for the Jays.
Pirates are the Walmart of catchers.
Too bad they can’t “rollback” the age of them.
Kratz has been all over the place. Poor guy. I hope he can find a long term home.
He’s a 36 year old catcher. I think his days of finding a long term home are long over. His best chance of playing ball for a living is being “that guy” who is always available cheaply and can play catcher for a couple weeks if your team is ravaged by injuries.
Wow, time has flown by. I didn’t realize he was that old.
Don’t feel bad, he didn’t make his major league debut until he was 30 or close to it.
Kind of Kratz’ 3rd stint with the Jays if you consider he was drafted by them. He’s also familiar with RA Dickey having worked with him in 2014 and heck, even throws his own knuckleball pitch.
I don’t think he’ll be on the MLB roster with Thole and Martin but who knows