The White Sox are in agreement with catcher Sebastian Rivero on a minor league contract, tweets Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star. The 24-year-old backstop was released by the Royals last month.
Rivero, a Venezuela native, had spent his entire career in the Kansas City organization. Originally signed as an amateur free agent during the 2015-16 signing period, he played parts of six seasons in the minors. Rivero hasn’t hit much over that stretch, compiling a .247/.295/.357 line in a bit more than 1300 minor league plate appearances. He’s made contact at a roughly average rate but rarely walks and only has 20 professional home runs.
Despite the tepid offensive output, he played his way onto the 40-man roster over the 2020-21 offseason based on the strength of his defensive reputation. Kansas City kept him on hand as a depth option for the last two years, getting him into 34 combined contests. Rivero has managed only a .167/.236/.197 line in very sparse looks against big league pitching. He spent the bulk of the 2022 season at Triple-A Omaha, where he posted a .218/.294/.410 showing in 174 trips to the plate.
At the end of the season, Kansas City designated Rivero for assignment as part of a 40-man roster shuffle. They cut him loose, but he fairly quickly finds a new job. Chicago’s first-year skipper Pedro Grifol has spent the past decade in the K.C. organization, getting plenty of work with the team’s catchers in particular. That connection surely helped Rivero find this next opportunity.
The White Sox look likely to give Yasmani Grandal another shot to bounce back in the final season of his four-year contract. Carlos Pérez and Seby Zavala are on the 40-man roster as backup possibilities. Rivero looks likely to head to Triple-A Charlotte as a depth option behind that trio.
I was impressed by his numbers… until I realized the column I mistook for slugging percentage was actually his OPS.
Minor league deal.
Sox manager has inside info for this guy.
Excellent depth move.
As a fellow sox fan, I’m getting that same feeling
I’m afraid to ask what kind of inside information he has on him. Better safe than sorry!
It’s that Grifol really wants to be ‘inside’ of that player. Reinsdorf always gets his manager all little boy-pet. For TLR it was Leury Garcia.
For Renteria it was Jimmy Cordero. Ventura had Lillibridge
Stay classy stereo. Pedo jokes are awesome.
Cordero’s biceps are his own personal pets. It goes even deeper
Or maybe this scrub player has some dirt on whomever the Sox GM is? Honestly that would make much more sense.
No. I’d rather wiggle my butt at sailors than put this guy in my lineup
Whatever turns you on, man.
They wouldn’t look!
Well… not with THAT attitude they wouldn’t…
I mean…..they MIGHT…haha
@BStereo – Lol omg
It would be great to ship off Grandal’s bad catching asap. Salaries being so inflated this offseason-maybe someone views him as bounceback for close to 9mil (half his salary). They can grab Barnhart or someone that helps the staff/blocks pitches. Nothing exciting, but helpful for time being.
Maybe they can swap him with the Mets for McCann back. Gonna suck anyway, why not suck for 2 years for the price of 1?
I doubt grandal is going to be their #1. He’s atrocious behind the plate and just as bad offensively. Zavala, who is good both offensively and defensively, should be their first choice. Perez is the best of the three defensively and should be Zavala’s back-up.
Zavala is not good offensively. I’ll admit, he has been better, but isn’t your answer.