The Marlins announced Wednesday morning that they’ve placed catcher Jorge Alfaro on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain and selected the contract of veteran Sandy Leon to take his spot on the roster. Miami had an open spot on its 40-man roster already.
Alfaro, 27, has gotten out to a slow start this year, slashing .229/.250/.257 with a dozen strikeouts against just one walk in 36 trips to the plate. He was removed from last night’s game against the Orioles after beating out an infield single. Chad Wallach replaced Alfaro last night, and he’ll now share time behind the dish in Miami with Leon while Alfaro mends.
Leon, 32, has seen Major League time in parts of nine seasons but has never provided much with the bat aside from what looks to be an anomalous 2016 campaign in Boston. The veteran switch-hitter posted an out-of-the-blue .310/.369/.476 slash with a career-best seven homers in 283 plate appearances that year, but Leon has mustered just a .194/.263/.306 line in 861 trips to the plate since that time. He spent the 2020 season with the Indians organization, hitting .136/.296/.242 in 81 plate appearances.
Leon may not be much of a hitter, but he’s a well-regarded pitch framer with a career 34 percent caught-stealing rate that is well above the league average. His throwing has deteriorated in recent years, including just a 2-for-11 effort in thwarting thieves last year, but Leon is regarded as a sound defensive backstop on the whole. The Marlins have yet to provide any kind of timeline for Alfaro’s injury, so it’s unclear just how long of a window Leon will have in Miami.
Love me some Sandy Leon!
Buffets in Miami all closing down, especially with Pablo Sandoval coming to town.
Sandy Leon, the only active Hall of Famer. Heck yeah
Clicked on the article just to make sure someone pointed this out :)
marlins pitching does worst with Jorge Alfaro behind plate ..
this article faiil to say marlins are not looking for hitting . by calling lewis brinson up.
and marlins should improve pitching wise with Sandy Leon over Jorge Alfaro..
Leon a well-regarded pitch framer and give pitching target . i cant stand why catcher use a black glove
Agreed.
Don’t know much about alfaro, his stats look average for a catcher.
Marlins fans, how does he rank defensively?
He has improved, but he is still hurting us from time to time. He has talent with a great arm, but he is very flawed. This year may be his last chance to secure the job. As stated above, the Marlins do better without Alfaro right now. Since Alfaro has been struggling with the bat and his defense is very flawed, him going down to be replaced by Leon is actually an upgrade for us.
Agreed. part could be how he call games also
did not know This year may be his last chance to secure the job.. how jeter and don works. if you look lewis brinson. but hope for improvement .
Yes, for both Alfaro and Brinson, this could be the last chance to secure different situations.
For Alfaro, he lost his job last season to light-hitting Chad Wallach as they headed into the postseason, Then, in the offseason, the Marlins looked around at upgrades, and spent some time talking to the Cubs about Contreras. The Marlins aren’t interested in a defensive liability behind the plate. Alfaro has shown too slow of an amount of progress.
As for Brinson, this might be his last season to secure a starting role. With the stable of OFs in their system, there may not be much room for him any longer if he’s not producing. H3e was just sent down, and the younger Sierra has shown he’s worth keeping instead of DFA-ing due to being out of options. There is also the younger Bleday, Sanchez, and Harrison all on the cusp of MLB readiness (Harrison and Sanchez already having been up a couple of times each).
Sandy Leon had an anomalous season. Who knew? It’s an obvious obfuscation of onerous OPS ordinarily obtained on observation of other outcomes.
Couldn’t care less about the Fish but I love me some Sandy Leon!! Glad to see he’s back
Leon will not bat his body weight but defensively he is far better than either Marlins Catchers. He’s a guy who can definitely help that young pitching staff