The A’s are in agreement on a minor league contract with catcher Yohel Pozo, reports Alden González of ESPN. Pozo will receive an invitation to major league Spring Training.
Pozo, 26 in June, has spent almost his entire career with the Rangers thus far. He was very briefly a Padre, having signed a minor league deal in November of 2020 but then was selected back by the Rangers in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft just a couple of weeks later.
Pozo has been compared to Willians Astudillo, since the players have a similar penchant for putting the bat on the ball. Pozo has never posted a walk rate of 8% or higher and has never struck out at anything higher than a 13% clip. He seemed to have a nice breakout in 2021, hitting 23 home runs in 77 Triple-A games, which led to his major league debut. In 21 big league games, he hit .284/.312/.378 for a wRC+ of 89, roughly league average for a catcher. Despite that nice year, he was non-tendered and re-signed to a minor league deal for 2022. He hit .320/.352/.474, which amounted to a wRC+ of 104 in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
For the A’s, they made a very notable subtraction to their catching depth yesterday, trading Sean Murphy to Atlanta. They did get Manny Piña back in that deal, though he is a veteran placeholder who turns 36 next year. Their true path forward behind the plate will likely be forged by Shea Langeliers, who made his MLB debut last year, or Tyler Soderstrom, who made it to Triple-A. However, anyone in that group struggles or gets injured, Pozo will give the A’s a unique depth option. If he makes it onto their 40-man roster, he has a full slate of options.
I hope he does well.
He had a .974 OPS last season in AAA as a catcher and then had a 104 wRC+ this season. I don’t see why the Rangers let him go when they could have traded Huff or someone and kept him.
From what I remember about him, his defense is not very good. That could be a big reason.
Defense it overrated in my opinion. I understand it matters, but seeing Kiner-Falefa vs Seager or Heim vs Huff, etc. makes me think that extending the lineup is more important. If a guy makes an out, others get fewer plate appearances. They also score more and get to drive in more if the guy doesn’t make an out. I think Pozo is more valuable that defense would seem to indicate.
Or trade away Garver.
I would consider it selling low on Garver. Besides, Heim is coming off a career year and faded a bit towards the end of the season. I am not sure Heim and Huff are dependable guys, given that they lost Viloria too.
Pozo is a top 60 catcher in the sport. A lot of teams could do worse with their backup C.
I find it interesting when I see comments like “he stinks” when these so called 4A or at the bottom level of MLB talent players are all among the best 1000 or so in the sport and in many cases as like this one, a top 60 at their position.
I mean, it’s really relative. A guy can be a talented enough player to play in AAA (relatively impressive), but also not worthy of a MLB roster or even a ST invite.
Find that interesting as well. If he made the big leagues, he will always be better than a heck of a lot of other guys who never got out of the minors.
I had him at 6 years $275 million in my FA predictions. This is a real bracket buster right here.
You forgot the one year opt out!
TwinsFan, yeah I heard SD offered 6/275 as well!
Well… let’s adapt to the trend here: 10 years 300 million for luxury tax reasons.
We have met the backstop, and he is ours.
i mean he hit .284 last year and over .300 in AAA, so that would be a major change to the As lineup
Nice minor league pick up. Why do you MLBTR writers still think Soderstrom is going to be a catcher? The A’s are obviously shifting him to 1B. That was pretty apparent after they drafted a college catcher in the 1st round last season.
I wonder if he can handle LF or 2b/ 3b, since he does have above avg arm strength. But it looks like first base is a clear path. Assuming their other hitting prospects like Brett Harris 3b and Gelof maybe 2b progress more. Gelof has plus speed and athleticism, I’ve read they may try him in outfield too
I’m pretty high on Gelof. He’ll be a nice offensive 2B. The ‘24 season is going to be a good looking team imo with guys like Soderstrom, Gelof, Díaz, and Butler emerging as well as all the pitchers we’ve acquired like Hogland, Ginn, Cusick, and Muller.
Capel was a good pickup for nothing, and I think he’ll be a nice complimentary player in the lineup. Langeliers will be great on both sides of the ball. We’ll see if guys like Smith and Pache can turn it around, but I highly doubt it with the latter.
A’s sign minor league deal…. Isn’t that redundant?
Is that supposed to be funny? It’s rather ignorant in addition to being incredibly unfunny.
Is this the guy that got in trouble with odors brother or was that someone else?
Nice pick up. Young catchers usually only get better as catchers but maybe not as hitters. A’s have made a few smart moves, if a few of these guys hit ya never know. Noda they picked up in the Rule5 draft will be a great under the radar move
Pozo could probably be an opening day DH for them TBH. Pretty sure that’s where most of his experience with Texas was during his MLB stint. Iirc he and his wife/kid were sleeping out of a car just a few years ago. Hope he gets a chance to crack the roster and stick this go around.