The White Sox have traded catcher Matt Thaiss to the Rays for minor league outfielder Dru Baker, according to announcements from both clubs. Since Baker wasn’t on the 40-man, the Rays transferred outfielder Jonny DeLuca to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot for Thaiss. They will need to open an active roster spot once Thaiss reports to the club. Chicago’s 40-man count drops to 39. In terms of their active roster, catcher Korey Lee has been reinstated from the IL to take the vacated spot.
Thaiss, 30, was just acquired by the Sox in the offseason. They sent cash to the Cubs, bringing Thaiss to the South Side. He has appeared in 35 games and stepped to the plate 110 times, with some positive results. He has just one home run but has walked more than he has been struck out, drawing a free pass in 20.9% of his appearances compared to a 19.1% strikeout rate.
That’s better than his previous work on offense. With the Angels in 2023 and 2024, he made 493 trips to the plate. He had a strong 13% walk rate over those seasons but also struck out at a high clip of 28.6%. He was flipped to the Cubs and then the White Sox in offseason trades.
His work behind the plate has been more of a question mark, as he has never received excellent marks back there. Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have considered his blocking and throwing to be adequate but with subpar framing. FanGraphs agrees that Thaiss hasn’t been a great framer in his career but has him above average so far in 2025.
Though his work for the Sox has been adequate on the whole, he never seemed likely to spend a long time on the roster. Thaiss started the year sharing the catching time with Lee, but the Sox had two top prospects waiting in the wings: Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel.
Lee went to the IL fairly early in the season, landing there due to a left ankle sprain on April 10th. That got Omar Narváez to the big leagues briefly but Quero was up in the majors a week later. Now that Lee is healthy again, he and Quero will share the catching work. Teel is playing great in Triple-A and could be up in the majors soon as well. Those factors have all pushed the out-of-options Thaiss off the roster.
For the Rays, they’ve been deploying a tandem of Danny Jansen and Ben Rortvedt behind the plate this year. Jansen started slow but has been heating up lately, getting his line to .200/.333/.336 for the year, which leads to a 103 wRC+. Rortvedt, on the other hand, has a dreary .100/.194/.117 line. That’s only 67 plate appearances but he now has a .187/.277/.266 line and 61 wRC+ over 572 plate appearances in his big league career.
Rortvedt is out of options, so it’s possible he’ll be designated for assignment once Thaiss is able to join the team. If the switch works, the Rays could keep Thaiss beyond 2025. He came into this year with his service clock at three years and 38 days, meaning this is his first of three arbitration seasons. With Jansen on a one-year deal, Thaiss has a chance to stick with the Rays for 2026 if he holds his spot through the end of this season.
In order to make that potential upgrade behind the plate, they are parting with Baker. Now 25 years old, he was selected by the Rays in the fourth round of the 2021 draft. He is considered a capable outfielder but his bat has stalled out at the upper minor league levels. Since getting promoted to Double-A in August of 2023, he has a .280/.345/.338 batting line and 101 wRC+. That includes a .245/.344/.302 line at the Triple-A level.
Even if he doesn’t hit much, Baker at least has wheels. He stole 49 bags in 2023 and 42 last year. For the Sox, they were probably going to cut Thaiss soon anyway, so they have traded him in for a flier on Baker. Baker could perhaps serve as a speedy bench outfielder, with any offensive developments on top of that being a bonus.
As for DeLuca, he suffered a shoulder strain in early April. His 60-day count is retroactive to his initial IL placement, so he will be eligible for reinstatement on June 6th. He just started a rehab assignment on the weekend, so he could perhaps be ready to return to the big leagues once that date rolls around.
Photo courtesy of Denny Medley, Imagn Images
At least he will be an improvement over Rortvedt.
Rortvedt somehow was able to make last years Alex Jackson look good.
Very happy to see Lee return from the IL. And happy to see that ABs aren’t going to a veteran who isn’t part of the future of the organization.
Bring up Teel. He can share C duties with the other 2 C’a and DH. Let’s see what he can do!
Great blocker, walker and doesn’t chase.
Good luck Matty!
Bit old for a prospect but not a bad return for a guy like Thaiss.
Thaiss has potential but cannot seem to make the adjustments to get over the hill he is stuck in the mendoza line
Rays will take Mendoza line production. That’s an improvement over Rort.
Rorty has had difficulty hitting, but at least he hasn’t been the framing failure like DanJan.
Why do the White Sox take a player doing so well at third and move him to first for someone hitting. .140?
They demoted Vaughn and Elko.
Incompetence.
Matt Theiss was a solid catcher. He played decent defense and put together really professional ABs for the Sox. Since they have a surplus of catchers now, It made sense to move one of them and Theiss was just the logical odd man out to clear the way for Quero and Lee to get the bulk of the playing time.. Kyle Teel is killing the ball in AAA right now so they still have some decisions to make soon, but removing Theiss at least clears the deck on the 26 man roster.
If this screams sell high then this trade is fine. Baker is an older prospect whose future is likely a 4th outfielder. Outfielders are the biggest black hole in the Sox’s farm.
Thaiss
Baker’s probably not a difference-maker, but better than the nothing they’d get by cutting Thaiss. Aside from B. Montgomery and perhaps Wolkow if you believe he can cut his k-rate, they have no good OF prospects.
The 2016 1st round (Thaiss 16th) was a total clunker.
Against the Cubs, Thaiss was batting second in one game. Totally silly.
Quero will rotate down to Charlotte and Teel will spell Lee and get AB’s by 6/15
Teel needs time at 1B and Vargas should be every day 3B
This sounds like typical White Sox stupidity.
Finally. Wasted a lot of Quero PT.