The Guardians announced they have re-signed catcher Dom Nuñez to a minor league deal. The ALIGND Sports Agency also receives an invite to big league spring training with the Guards, just as he did last offseason.
Nuñez, 30 in January, spent the 2024 season with Triple-A Columbus. He got into 68 games at that level, stepping to the plate 263 times. He struck out in 30% of those trips, certainly a high number, but also drew walks at a hefty 16% clip. That resulted in a .202/.330/.339 batting line and 81 wRC+.
The Guards never needed to call Nuñez up to the majors, using Bo Naylor, Austin Hedges and David Fry to handle the big league catching duties. Fry didn’t really catch in the second half due to elbow problems and that will carry over into next year. He had a hybrid/internal brace and tendon reconstruction surgery in November, which is expected to have a 12-month recovery timetable. He will be able to serve as the designated hitter at some point next year but won’t be part of the catching plans.
That effectively leaves Naylor and Hedges as the two backstops on Cleveland’s roster, so the odds of needing to use a depth option will perhaps be higher next year, unless they add someone else to the roster later in the winter.
Nuñez didn’t make it to the majors in 2024 but does have big league experience, getting 347 plate appearances with the Rockies from 2019 to 2022. He was punched out 34% of the time but also earned free passes at a 12.4% clip. Unlike his 2024 season in Triple-A, the walks weren’t enough to bolster his overall numbers to respectable levels, so he currently has a career batting line of .180/.280/.373 in the majors for a 58 wRC+. His framing received strong grades from FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus and Statcast during his brief major league work in Colorado.
It’s not an overwhelming profile, but for a non-roster catcher, he at least has some positive attributes with the ability to take a walk and frame a pitch. If the Guards bring him up to the majors at any point next year, he hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration and still has an option year, meaning he’ll be cheap and provide roster flexibility.
Can’t have too many catchers who can’t hit
Hope he plays well enough to warrant consideration for a call-up in the event of an injury. Dom could be a good sub.
It’s a good deal for him because they have essentially nobody else in AAA that is what you would want in case of an emergency. Their starter in AAA last year was Bryan Lavastida who was at one point on the 40 man roster and got some MLB experience, but he’s gone via minor league free agency. None of the catchers at Akron last year hit particularly well or are highly rated prospects.
Honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they signed another AAAA type catcher as well.
Blockbuster deal in the works. Hedges, Naylor, and Nunez shipped to LA for Smith. Dolan can defer Smith’s payment to the year 2167.
Don’t forget you go on stage at 1000 pm.
I’ll say this for Dom, his determination is pretty epic. One of the single worst hitters I’ve ever seen at the major league level, but he’s still banging away at this at age 30. People, get your sons to put on the catching gear. Even though Dom was drafted as a shortstop.
People need to relax. This is a depth move. We need catchers in the system, that is all this is.
And their depth was pretty much gone. They had 5 catchers at AAA last year and *all of them* were gone. Bryan Lavastida and Micael Ramirez were free agents. Zac Fascia was released. Joe Donovan retired. Bringing Nunez back was pretty much necessary.
You might think “promote from AA” but 3 of those above names were their AA catchers last year. The only returning names were Kody Huff Z pretty much a backup at every level, and Cooper Ingle. Ingle is a legit prospect but he spent most of last year at A ball and only got to AA Akron for the last month of the season, probably wasn’t an option to be the primary catcher for Columbus and the next guy up in case of injury.
Given all that, I bet Cleveland signs another AAAA type catcher.
Agreed
Wow his agency gets to be invited to spring training too? No wonder they agreed to it.
That’s the thing about writing an article or really anything of substance. You need to stay focused or even a banana cream pie is pretty good, although nothing tops the traditional but never tired apple pie.
OMG, the move we’ve all been holding our breath for!
Somebody call Sandy Leon!