The Diamondbacks announced they have claimed catcher Ali Sánchez off waivers from the Pirates.
Sánchez, 26 in January, has gotten a couple of cups of coffee in the big leagues so far, as he played five games with the Mets in 2020 and two more with the Cardinals in 2021. The Cardinals kept him in the minors this year and designated him for assignment in June. He was claimed by the Tigers and then designated for assignment again in October. He then went to the Pirates and now the Diamondbacks on further waiver claims.
He has a reputation as a strong defensive catcher but also had a decent season with the bat in the minors. In 74 Triple-A games this year, he hit .262/.354/.389 for a wRC+ of 101.
The D-Backs only had two catchers on their 40-man roster prior to this move and have been reportedly looking to add in that department. Carson Kelly has been the club’s regular backstop for a few years now but Jose Herrera has just 47 games of MLB experience. Sánchez is out of options but Herrera still has a couple of option years remaining.
As for the Pirates, this leaves prospect Endy Rodriguez as the only backstop on their 40-man roster.
Wish Detroit would have kept him. Good pick up imo
Intriguing minor league stats. Seems like a decent pickup here.
He was the only catcher on the pirates roster.
And that’s important why? Its Dec 2nd.
Sounds like they’ll be announcing the signing of Roberto Perez in the coming days which was their intention all along
Just making a comment in the comments section 3Rivers. I was unaware that they all had to be important.
How about at least accurate. Endy Rodriguez is on the pirates roster. Not that he will likely make the 26 man but just busting your chops.
It’s going to be really interesting to see what happens between Endy and Davis. They are both catchers with similar projection times to reach the majors. Good news is they can both hit.
He is trending that way. Davis has a lot of room to make up defensively. Hopefully both will be good. You need 2 catchers and they can dh and even play other positions in Endy’s case. Maybe Davis can play rf at pnc or 1b.
You are correct. Having two good young catchers arrive in the bigs at the same time is a good problem to have.
I’m hoping for Slaught/Lavalliere vibes on steroids out of Endy and Davis.
This is a helluva pickup! The guy hit .500 last year!
Ali Sanchez the Worst Catcher in the World
Watch This LOL
youtube.com/watch?v=kkxMdM6Fpv8
Oh man I forgot about this. Thank you for the reminder. That is brutal.
I watched this in real time and couldn’t believe this was a MLB catcher
Need open roster spot to participate in Rule 5 draft. Probably have others on waivers that haven’t been claimed.
Need open roster spot to sign a starting catcher for sure and likely starting pitcher.
OOTP god. If you know you know.
Him and Yajure lost on waivers. I have a feeling that the Pirates are going to be something soon.
Other teams fans expecting a sweep this year are going to be disappointed.
Solid pickup. Sánchez will be a regular MLB backup for a while.