The Rangers have inked catcher Cameron Rupp to a minor-league deal, per a club announcement. He’ll head to Triple-A for now but can earn at a $1MM annual rate in the majors, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets. Rupp is already receiving just over half a million dollars from the Phillies after he was released from his arbitration deal late this spring.
It’s not surprising to see this match, which made sense on paper and was previously suggested to be of actual interest to the Texas organization. If anything, it had seemed possible that Rupp might command a major-league roster spot upon signing, but he’ll instead settle for a minor-league placement that seems to leave him a good shot at making his way back to the majors before long.
Rupp, 29, has been a heavily used and plenty useful MLB backstop for the past three seasons. He’s not much of an on-base threat with the bat, but has good power and has carried an 86 wRC+ and swatted 39 home runs through 1,127 plate appearances at the game’s highest level.
Of course, offense isn’t everything, particularly for a catcher. Rupp had received roughly average framing grades before he turned southward in 2017. He has been solid in controlling the running game and handling balls in the dirt.
Rupp will be hoping to displace Juan Centeno as the second receiver in Texas. Centeno has a thinner track record in the big leagues, though he does offer some added platoon possibilities as a left-handed hitter. It certainly would not be surprising to see Rupp join starter Robinson Chirinos on the Rangers roster in relatively short order.
Happy to see Cameron land. AKA “The Tank”!
Rupp’s replacement, Andrew Knapp… going forward, can he be a useful starter or just a backup type? He seems to have decent strike zone judgement & can switch hit.
He’s never going to be a stud but he could be a decent starter if given the opportunity but Alfaro is going to be the starter
I think that the Phillies soon may rue the day that they got rid of Rupp.Every team needs three good catchers because of the high chance of injury.I think that Knapp and Alfaro will end up splitting the time as Alfaro may never become a good defensive catcher and handle pitchers well.Having them both split time is not necessarily a bad thing as they have enough hitters that they may not need Alfaro’s hitting as much as many teams would.There would be less wear and tear on each lessening the chance of injury to either.Too bad that Alfaro has not been taught to play first base as a respite to keep his bat in the lineup but the Phillies do not need him there.
Well if chirinos keeps up his 0-15 with 9k pace it won’t be long til we see Rupp up in Texas.