The Yankees have signed catcher Nick Ciuffo to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com.
This is a nice birthday present for Ciuffo, who turns 28 years old today. Originally selected by the Rays in the first round of the 2013 draft, he was a notable prospect in their system for many years after that. Though he was originally considered a well-rounded prospect, he seemed to struggle at the plate when he reached the upper levels of the minors.
Since the start of 2018, he’s appeared in 167 minor league games with a batting line of .247/.299/.381, walking in just 6.8% of his plate appearances while striking out at a 28.8% rate. He’s also appeared in 21 major league games over that time, hitting .188/.259/.292 for the Rays and Orioles. Ciuffo spent last year in Triple-A with the White Sox but was punched out in 31.1% of his trips to the plate.
For the Yankees, it was reported last week that they were looking for some some extra depth behind the plate because of a rash of injuries at the position. Ben Rortvedt, Austin Wells and Josh Breaux each suffered injuries that will keep them out of action for at least a few weeks. The Yanks still have their primary catching tandem healthy in Jose Trevino and Kyle Higashioka, but the latter is participating in the World Baseball Classic and will be away from camp for a while. With all of those absences, it makes sense that they would look to bring in another receiver to help out with all the arms looking to get ready for the season.
If Ciuffo is able to make his way onto the roster at any point, he has a full slate of options and less than a year of service time, meaning he could stick around as depth for a while if the Yankees would like.
If he’s sticking around, with his track record, the Yankees are in deep doo doo
Yankees will be fine, Manfred will probably just use juiced balls for all Aaron Judge at bats like he did in 2022.
Stop crying and go watch whatever team is unlucky enough to have you as a fan
I’m not crying, i’m yankee fan. You must be dense
Guess Gary ISN’T in the plan huh? LOL
Nick’s last name reminds me of a gal I knew in high school who would………oh never mind.
I remember Nick when he was with the Orioles and the Rangers, saw him with both organizations in Spring Training.
Both he and Higgy are playing in the WBC.
He better lose the beard asap
Never thought of this, and a quick google search I didn’t see it: can Yankees minor leaguers have beards?
Nope, they can have moustaches though.
When I was a kid, the Reds had a no-facial hair policy. The great Rollie Fingers was kicked off the team for not removing his trademark stache
It’s a sin to make Rollie shave that gem
the yankees should trade for brandon marsh, get him to shave off his beard, then immediate release him
Ngl that would be hilarious
Not a bad birthday for him.
Can I get a pronunciation please?
BBRef says it’s . Not what I had expected.
SHOO-fo
Maybe this move will somewhat offset the inevitable disaster that is the Aaron Judge contract.
An off the ciuffo signing.
So the yankees need catching depth? I get it for spring training and minor leagues why not utilize IKF in a catching role for the time being? He was brought up as a catcher…
They only need him IF Trevino or Higgy goes down. I’m not sure if they’ll even 40-man roster him if that does happen but they also need depth at AAA.
God save the team that needs him on Opening Day 😉
I’m done talking about Florial being worth a look. He came into camp knowing that this could be his last shot, and he’s done nothing with it.