The Indians have selected the contract of catcher Gianpaul Gonzalez, Mandy Bell of MLB.com was among those to relay (Twitter link). Wilson Ramos has been placed on the 10-day injured list to open active roster space. The team already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster.
Gonzalez will back up Austin Hedges for the time being. Ramos, who had been taking that role, suffered a season-ending knee injury on Sunday. With Roberto Pérez still on the mend from a shoulder issue, the Indians needed to add another catcher to the active and 40-man rosters.
Ideally, that role likely would’ve gone to one of Ryan Lavarnway or Gavin Collins, both of whom are at Triple-A Columbus. They’re in COVID-19 protocols at the moment, Bell notes. Rather than turn to a prospect like Bo Naylor or Bryan Lavastida before they’re ready, the Indians will call up Gonzalez from High-A Lake County.
It’ll be the major league debut for Gonzalez, a 25-year-old who has a bit of past high minors experience. Cleveland’s 20th-round pick in 2014 out of an academy in Puerto Rico, the right-handed hitting Gonzalez has a .195/.274/.227 line over parts of seven minor league seasons.
Gianpaulo Stanton
wrong Gavin Collins linked
So his (lack of) bat will fit in just perfectly for a Tribe catcher.
Sigh…..
“ .195/.274/.227 line over parts of seven minor league seasons” hey can ask Hedges for some pointers….LOL
Is this a real person? He sounds like a fake video game character
Couldn’t they have gotten a better catcher anywhere?
They couldn’t have brought Rene Rivera back? He was recently released.
He would have to go through COVID intake protocols, whereas Gianpaul was already in the organization and thus more immediately available.
This is just about the nuttiest world in the world.
Brad Hand is available to fill in for Karinchak?
Hope they find a way to get him into at least one game and on the scoresheet.
Seems like a John Bormann type of callup. Need an emergency catcher so you throw up a backup single A catcher to fill the gap for a few days. Not to knock on him or anything