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Padres Agree To Minor League Deal With Tony Cruz

By Steve Adams | February 7, 2017 at 10:05pm CDT

The Padres have agreed to sign catcher Tony Cruz to a minor league deal, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (on Twitter).

Cruz, 30, spent the 2007-15 seasons in the Cardinals organization before playing the 2016 campaign in the Royals’ system. Though he totaled just five big league plate appearances with Kansas City, Cruz logged a solid .264/.347/.387 batting line in 92 Triple-A contests last season. Prior to that, he appeared in 259 games for the Cardinals from 2011-15 while serving as a backup to Yadier Molina, though he’s never provided much in the way of offense in the Majors. Across 638 big league plate appearances, Cruz is a .218/.260/.308 hitter, but it bears mention that he has a .732 OPS in the minors and a .724 OPS in parts of three Triple-A campaigns.

From a defensive standpoint, Cruz has halted 27 percent of stolen base attempts against him in the Majors, and his career 43 percent minor league mark in that regard is quite impressive. Though he once graded poorly in Baseball Prospectus’ pitch-framing metrics, he’s progressed to be a roughly average receiver, by that measure, in recent years.

Austin Hedges and Christian Bethancourt figure to be the primary backstops in San Diego this coming season, but with Bethancourt perhaps shifting into a hybrid catcher/outfielder/relief pitcher role, there could be some room to carry a third catcher on the roster, if Cruz proves worthy of a spot. Others that will be in the mix are Rule 5 pick Luis Torrens and non-roster invitees Hector Sanchez and Rocky Gale.

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San Diego Padres Transactions Tony Cruz

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16 Comments

  1. lowtalker1

    8 years ago

    Left over scraps to fill in triple a

    Reply
    • Tasman

      8 years ago

      That’s AJ for you! He sucks and needs to go!

      Reply
  2. thebighurt619

    8 years ago

    I really wanna see bethancourt play catcher outfield and relief pitcher all in one game this season. I mean why not. Gets at bats get experience gets some pitches in.

    2
    Reply
    • davidcoonce74

      8 years ago

      I doubt that would happen. A reliever needs to warm up at some point, unless he’s just coming into a blowout.

      Reply
      • thebighurt619

        8 years ago

        Does him throwing the ball to the pitcher count as warm up? Id say yes.

        1
        Reply
    • SixFlagsMagicPadres

      8 years ago

      He could be like the Hispanic Shohei Otani, but not as good.

      1
      Reply
      • vtadave

        8 years ago

        Haha…. yeah not as good indeed. That’s sort of like saying some basketball player from Japan could be the Japanese Russell Westbrook.

        Reply
    • lowtalker1

      8 years ago

      I really want them to trade Beth for something useful like a short stop

      Reply
  3. timtim007

    8 years ago

    I guess i am pretty naive with the stat “pitch framing.” Is that basically trying to convince the umpire it’s a strike on borderline pitches?

    1
    Reply
    • daruba

      8 years ago

      lmgtfy.com/?q=pitch+framing

      Reply
      • timtim007

        8 years ago

        Thanks but i thought maybe MLB and what Google defines it might be different

        1
        Reply
  4. CompanyAssassin

    8 years ago

    Probably one of the worst defenders I’ve seen during his time with the Cardinals.

    Reply
    • davidcoonce74

      8 years ago

      Probably hard to stay sharp when you play like 15 games a year.

      Reply
    • lowtalker1

      8 years ago

      There are worst, bethancourt comes to mind

      Reply
      • kent814

        8 years ago

        Bethancourt is one of the best defensive catchers in the game with a cannon, what are you talking about?

        Reply
  5. kingofmacomb

    8 years ago

    Tony Cruz was an ideal backup for Yadi in St. Louis. From everything I heard, he came prepared to play every day, understood his role, and apparently worked well with the pitching staff, coaches, and Yadi. And lets not forget his cool walk-up music from the “Wolf of Wall Street.” Good luck, Tony!

    1
    Reply

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