The Marlins have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran catcher Jorge Alfaro, reports Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). The CAA client will return for a second stint with the Fish, having previously spent the 2019-21 seasons in Miami. He’ll be assigned to Triple-A Jacksonville.
Alfaro, 30, originally signed with the Rangers as an amateur out of Colombia but was traded to the Phillies in the Cole Hamels blockbuster and then to the Marlins as part of Miami’s return for J.T. Realmuto. Alfaro logged 876 plate appearances in his three seasons with the Marlins, batting a combined .252/.298/.386 before being traded to the Padres in exchange for cash in Dec. 2021.
The 2023 season has seen Alfaro pinball around the league. Alfaro signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox in January but opted out of that deal in June after a big start to his season in Triple-A. He landed with the Rockies on a new minor league deal but was quickly selected to the Majors, where he hit .161/.188/.387 in a tiny sample of 32 plate appearances. Cut loose by Colorado, Alfaro returned to the Red Sox — this time on a big league deal. He went 2-for-17 and lasted just eight games in Boston before being designated for assignment and again electing free agency.
Now back with the Marlins, Alfaro will serve as some experienced catching depth in the upper minors. He’s never really delivered on his longstanding status as a top prospect, batting .252/.303/.393 in 1710 plate appearances at the big league level between five teams. However, Alfaro has a solid track record in Triple-A and is enjoying a big year there in 2023, posting a combined .323/.366/.524 line between the top affiliates for the Rox and Sox.
Catching help has been a perennial need for the Marlins since they traded Realmuto, as neither Alfaro nor his successor (fellow trade acquisition Jacob Stallings) has taken the job and run with it. Stallings is sporting a dismal .188/.290/.250 batting line on the current season, and fellow backstop Nick Fortes has only been marginally better at .221/.270/.312. Both have delivered sound defensive grades — Fortes, in particular, has been strong — but the lack of offense is glaring. Stallings and Fortes have combined for a .207/.280/.288 output at the plate, and the resulting 60 wRC+ (suggesting they’ve been 40% below league-average at the plate) ranks 29th in the Majors, leading only the Guardians.
Guy keeps getting opportunities to go back to his old squads. Must be well liked and a good teammate
I like his energy when he plays. That means something to a team for sure.
Well, he’s a catcher. If I showed up with a catcher’s glove, some GM will say “let’s take a look at the old dude. He owns a catcher’s mitt”.
Yeah, sound point. Being a catcher seems more like a “trade” than any other position. They are workhorses.
Tee hee
Why sign a guy who can’t hit or catch?
Ham – Awesome hair.
“Well liked and a good teammate”..I think so too; everytime I saw him previously on the Fish he looked decent and appeared to be a useful player. That and being a good teammate gets you lots of opportunities.
The Marlins are familiar with him and he with the Marlins. It cannot hurt to have him safely in the organization.
Somehow the league is overloaded with middle Infielders yet Catcher and Center Fiel are almost impossible to fill with any quality these days
5 walkoffs last year, I think, with the Padres. Seemed to have a good personality.
Should have just kept him last year instead of trading for Stallings, who is significantly worse, and also worse on defense somehow, but b/c people pretend hes great on that end, nobody talks about it…
The issue now is Sandy loves Stallings and he catches all of his innings, and I guess also now Josh Bell likes having him around to get acclimated, since they were obviously previous teammates
Fortes has had a down year with the bat. It started with a lot of bad luck, and then kind of kept snowballing, but he still is exponentially better than Stallings, and I still like him as an option, if he gets that chance to turn things back around
If Mccintosh didnt get hurt in the minor leagues early on in the season, I think he may have got a chance in the big leagues by now, but he hasnt necessarily torn up AAA, and he isnt really an option defensively, besides his arm
I’m thinking the Marlins move on from Stallings in the offseason. As you mention, it seems that Stallings has learned how to keep some netrworking with the right players to keep himself on the roster. But with Catcher, I’m hesitant to mke an in-season move, especially with the personal Catcher for our Ace. If I remember correctly, when the Braves did changes with Madduz’s personal Catchers, it was during the offseason.
With Fortes, I think his offensive struggles have been partially the result of him working on his defensive game. He has improved a god deal since last year. If we don’t get a top tier Catcher in teh offseason, Like you, I’m perfectly fine with sticking with Fortes going forward because he has shown the work ethic to imrpove his defense, and he’s shown previously that he could have a nice bat. My only question is will he put it all together at the Marlins timeline for contending, which seems now and over the next few years. He’d have to have a better year next year for sure…assuming we don’t make a change this offseason.
With Alfaro, you know it’s bad with our backup Catcher when we bring back the previous garbage that never utilized his tools, and looked awful behind the plate at such a level, we switched his positions.
I hope this is just a depth move.
Catcher is a girls position
Trolling is an even bigger girl’s position.