Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters today, including Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic, that catcher Brian Serven has made the team as the backup to Alejandro Kirk. Serven is not yet on the 40-man roster and will need to be added before the season begins next week.
Serven’s opportunity comes on the heels of catcher Danny Jansen suffering a wrist fracture earlier this month, leaving Kirk’s usual partner behind the plate ticketed for the injured list to open the season. Serven, who will celebrate his 29th birthday in May, has 73 games of big league experience under his belt since making his big league debut with the Rockies during the 2022 season. Since then, he’s hit just .195/.248/.314 in 228 plate appearances, all of which came during his time with Colorado.
While he posted quality framing numbers during his time in the majors, that wasn’t enough for the Rockies to keep him on the 40-man roster this offseason. He was designated for assignment by the club back in January and was promptly claimed off waivers by the Cubs, though he remained with Chicago for less than a week before he was once again DFA’d. This time, he was claimed by the Blue Jays, who were able to sneak him through waivers in late January, allowing them to keep him in the organization as non-roster depth headed into Spring Training.
That decision has now paid off, as Serven made the most of his opportunities this spring by clubbing three home runs while drawing walks at a 14.8% clip in his 27 trips to the plate across 12 spring games. While Spring Training numbers are of course rarely predictive of regular season performance, it’s possible Serven’s hot streak helped his case over fellow non-roster depth option Payton Henry, who appears set to begin the season at Triple-A Buffalo. While Serven has yet to hit much in the big leagues, his decent minor league numbers suggest that he could provide the level of offense associated with a major-league caliber backup behind the plate. He’s a career .240/.310/.418 hitter in the minors, including a .238/.305/.450 slash line in 134 career games at the Triple-A level.
What about Moreno? …oh yeah. Make Varsho catch.
Varsho made another poor throw today as Detroit tested his arm in LF going first to third. He’s not as good a defender as the metrics claim.
The throw was fine, he just shouldn’t have made it.
His first step and routes to balls are elite, all the data and the eye tests suggest he’s an elite defender. Judging one poor throw as a counter to that is so wildly insignificant, equivalent to saying a player isn’t elite offensively because you saw him strike out once.
Wrong again Dusty. Has to do with the fact that Varsho has missed cutoffs and yes made a dumb throw today. And it was not a good throw. The eyes suggest he’s not as good a defender as the metrics say.
But hey, I’m only attending the games in Spring to give a real assessment while you applaud a guy who brings nothing that is elite.
I’ll take professional scouts, and defensive metrics over the old miserable clown in the stands any day.
The pro scouts agree with me, Dusty. That is why scouts say to keep Varsho in LF. That is why scouts tell their teams to run on Varsho’s arm. Do you not understand or watch baseball? This is what is happening, while you play childish games with childish arguments about metrics driven by non-baseball people.
Keep up the great work on making bets that Matt Chapman will make $150-mil over 6. I’ll take me over you and who you follow.
@its_happening
>Varsho…not as good a defender as the metrics claim.
A deranged claim. How could the player with the MOST defensive runs saved in all of MLB last year not be a good defender? It’s an absurdity.
Deranged is your comments when you pop in.
Defensive runs saved? Ok. So missing cutoff men, not throwing to proper bases, losing balls in the sun (he’s done that repeatedly), don’t count? I guess it does not. Tell us, wise one, why defensive runs saved is an accurate stat and I’ll take my “claim” back. Cool?
Varsho has value in the OF, IKF on the other hand., give him a few starts at catcher. Throw Turner at 3B a game or two, bing bang boom.
Clement is making a case to start. He’s had good at bats against Burnes tonight.
I guess he showed the Cubs
When this guy starts the season 1-17 over his first few games, theyll overwork Kirk again and the whole position will suffer.
He gives you decent defense and marginal backup catcher level offense. Jays could do worse. Good for Serven for making his way back to MLB.
Happy Atkins big signing of winter makes team. LMAO
At some point, it will hit home that new cup holders isn’t the key to filling the seats.
They had a 40-man spot open after trading Espy.
But who’s getting traded or DFA’d from the 40-man if the Blue Jays add Tiedemann, Vogelbach and/or Votto to the 40-man?
Zulueta? Little? Pop?
Parsons is in the mix.
@charlesk
They aren’t adding Tiedeman.
Just dont understand why when you 2 catchers who are incredibly injury prone and 2 positional players in Varsho and IKF that have MLB catching experience, you wouldnt at the very least get them some reps behind the plate in spring training, maybe it doesnt work, but there is at least a possibility that 1 of them could be a reasonable substitute that doesnt require the near constant use of a roster spot for a player who is limited positionally and has limited offensive ability…..to me, that is specifically what spring training is for!