The Rangers have signed catcher José Herrera to a minor league deal, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. The Octagon client will also receive an invite to big league camp in spring training.
Herrera, 29 in February, will change organizations for the first time in his career. The Diamondbacks signed him as an international amateur out of Venezuela back in 2013. He was with the Snakes for more than a decade, having just become a free agent in October.
For most of the past four years, he’s been on the 40-man as an up-and-down depth catcher. Arizona has given most of the time behind the plate to Gabriel Moreno recently, with Herrera one of several names who have backed him up. Over those four seasons, he took 562 plate appearances with a .200/.280/.259 line. He’s a switch-hitter but hasn’t been great against pitchers of either handedness. Defensively, outlets like Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have credited him as being solid in terms of blocking and controlling the running game, but his framing has been subpar.
Arizona sent Herrera to Triple-A and back throughout the 2022 to 2024 seasons, exhausting his three option years. He came into 2025 out of options and held a roster spot for a while. While Moreno was injured, the Snakes signed James McCann. Once Moreno was ready to come off the injured list in August, they decided to go with a Moreno/McCann combo behind the plate. Herrera was designated for assignment and outrighted to Triple-A, then qualified for free agency at season’s end.
The Rangers have already made a few notable moves in the catching department this offseason. They non-tendered Jonah Heim and then agreed to a two-year deal with Danny Jansen last week. Jansen and Kyle Higashioka will share the big league duties. Willie MacIver is currently on the 40-man as optionable depth but he has only appeared behind the plate in 31 big league games. If either Jansen or Higashioka suffer an injury, Herrera is an experienced backstop who currently gives the club depth without taking up a roster spot.
Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images
Must be for the farm system because why would you bring in someone 10 times worse than Jonah Heim, whom we just let go because he was horrible
Brought in Danny Jansen who is better than Heim to replace Heim. Look at this as replacing Tucker barnhardt as the third catcher in round rock
With framing mattering slightly less next season, his blocking ability, along with controlling the run game will play a larger part moving forward.
Yeah, he’s not on the 40 now, but someone will be cut the moment they call him up over MacIver. This begs the question, why is MacIver on the 40? Why did you protect someone you didn’t trust to use in case of an injury?