Catcher Cameron Rupp has exercised his opt-out clause with the Rangers, as T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com reported (Twitter link) and the team has since announced. The Texas organization passed on adding Rupp to its MLB roster and has instead given him his release.
Rupp ought to generate interest in free agency, as there’s always a need for catching depth and he has quite a bit of recent MLB experience. He appeared in 274 games for the Phillies in the past three seasons, slashing a combined .236/.301/.417 with 39 home runs.
That power-heavy output is quite solid for a backstop. And Rupp has had no trouble squaring up the pitchers he has faced thus far at Triple-A.In his 125 plate appearances for Round Rock, he’s slashing .264/.328/.509 with seven long balls.
Though he graded poorly as a framer last year, he was within range of average in prior seasons. And Rupp has generally received solid marks in throwing and block. Though it’s hard to know exactly how organizations leaguewide view Rupp’s work behind the dish, it’s notable evidence that he was trusted with so much time by a Phillies organization that was bringing along some young hurlers over the past few years.
All things considered, there’s a case to be made that Rupp could sign directly onto a major-league roster. At a minimum, he should be widely pursued by teams that have any uncertainty at the MLB level and/or opportunity available at Triple-A. Rupp will also be eligible for arbitration at least two more times. He had agreed to a $2.05MM salary this year with the Philadelphia organization, which paid him a buyout of just over half a million dollars by cutting him loose late in camp.
A thousand games in 3 years? Maybe innings?
Never question the force that is Cameron Rupp.
Funny!!
Honestly I am not certain where I was going with that. But … it is fixed.
My guess was something related to him having over 1000 plate appearances in the past 3 year
Rupp played in over a thousand games over the past three seasons? Hope he’s getting paid overtime for that workload
Over 1000 games in three years!?
twins?
White Sox. Instantly.
Makes the most sense.
Thinking the same thing
Red Sox? Mets? Twins?
Brewers ? Nats ? Astros? Maybe even several others. Who knows!
A return to the Phils may actually work as a backup to Alfaro. Knapp has been an utter disaster in 2018.
Agreed -unfortunately Knapp’s glovework this year has regressed.
The rangers are dumb for not atleast making him the backup Catcher. His bat is more useful than an all glove scrub like Perez
Could not agree more. And it’s not like Perez has helped the pitching staff, which has an ERA near 5 this season with him behind the plate. I’d much rather have a backup catcher that can hit his weight than one that is deficient in all phases as Centeno was and Perez has been.
The Rangers dumped Brett Nicholas (.946 OPS in Triple-A for San Diego this season) and have now let Rupp walk to field Juan Centeno (.162/.184/.270 slash line at time of DFA) and Carlos Perez (.167/.219/.333 after his first multi-hit game of the season) as Robinson Chirinos’ backup. And they’ve done this on a team that’s going to lose a minimum of 95 games this season.
I’m really struggling to figure what the hell it is this front office is trying to do right now.
Brett Nicholas and Cameron Rupp >>>>>>>>>> Centeno and Perez
I really don’t get what JD is doing.