The Astros announced that catcher Christian Vazquez was signed to a minor league contract. The deal contains an invitation for Vazquez (an MDR Sports Management client) to attend Houston’s big league Spring Training camp. Vazquez will presumably head to the Astros’ camp after the World Baseball Classic, as the veteran backstop is playing for Puerto Rico’s team.
This is the second stint for Vazquez in a Houston uniform, after being acquired as a trade deadline pickup during the 2022 season. Vazquez hit only .250/.278/.308 over 108 plate appearances during the rest of the regular season and then .235/.316/.235 over 19 postseason PA, but he ended up winning a ring as a member of the World Series title team. Vazquez was also part of some particularly memorable baseball history when he was behind the plate for the Astros’ combined no-hitter in Game 4 of the World Series, which was just the second no-no in Series history and the third in postseason history.
Despite his lackluster numbers at the end of the 2022 campaign, Vazquez still landed a three-year, $30MM free agent deal from Minnesota that offsesason. Unfortunately for Vazquez and the Twins, the struggles at the plate continued, as he hit just .215/.267/.311 over 884 PA over his three seasons with the team. While Vazquez was signed more with defense in mind, delivering only a 60 wRC+ eventually slated him into a backup role behind Ryan Jeffers.
The combination of Vazquez’s poor numbers and hefty salary made him difficult to trade, though his name surfaced in a few rumors over the last couple of years. Minnesota traded a ton of veterans and impending free agents at last year’s deadline, but Vazquez stayed put, as he finished out his entire three-year term with the team. Perhaps understandably, there wasn’t a lot of buzz about his free agent market, apart from one report from January linking Vazquez to the Astros.
It took more than a month for the two sides to reach an agreement, but Vazquez did indeed end up putting pen to paper with Houston, and he’ll now compete with Cesar Salazar for the backup catching job behind starter Yainer Diaz. Salazar has all of 36 MLB games on his resume over three seasons with the Astros, plus he is out of minor league options. Carlos Perez is in camp on another minors deal, and while Perez has appeared in parts of five big league seasons, he hasn’t played in the Show since 2023.
An opening therefore exists for Vazquez to break camp with the Astros as Diaz’s understudy. The 35-year-old’s bat may not be very productive, but Vazquez remains a strong defender, logging +5 Defensive Runs Saved over 519 innings at catcher in 2025. Statcast wasn’t quite as favorable in giving Vazquez’s an even 0 in its overall Catching Runs metric, but his blocking and throwing (Vazquez tossed out 14 of 56 base-stealing attempts in 2025) were gauged as above average.
Vazquez’s WBC duties leave him with relatively little time to make an impression in Spring Training, but obviously the Astros have some familiarity with what Vazquez brings to the table. The fact that the Astros are making this signing indicates they aren’t entirely satisfied with their current backup catching situation, and there’s no risk for the club in committing just a minor league deal to Vazquez to take a look at him in camp.
Finally! Dana Brown does what he’s supposed to do.
Pick up over the hill vets who won’t make the team?
This isn’t really a major move, he signed to a minor league contract. He will compete for the backup job.
The Astros wanted a reminder of what they gave up for Abreu. LOL
A player who helped them in the playoffs and win a WS? lol
Gotta give Bloom credit for a smart trade.
Bloom made a lot of smart moves and wouldn’t have traded Mookie if he had a choice. His failure was with the pitching.
Spot on Dewey, pitching is/was his weakness. But, he’s a good at rebuilding teams, its seems to be his calling. Otherwise, he would be getting job offers.
FPG
I will admit I did not like this swap at the time,but you got to give Bloom some credit for this absolute steal.
cdc – hi!
Absolutely! I give Bloom credit all the time for the Abreu and Pivetta trades, without question his best moves.
You can never have too many catchers. Christian was the last free agent catcher out there. Good pick up!
I wanted my Red Sox pick him as depth behind Narvaez and Wong.
Good move ‘Stros.
If you are grading them on the likelihood that their moves raised the odds of a lock-out, they get an A+++
What does this have to do with the Dodgers?
A “combined no hitter” is not a thing. Especially when it comes to catchers.
Still, I lo,e Vasquez and hope he has a good season. A decent backstop who hits over the Mendoza line alwaysis worth stashing in AAA.
Real tomato ketchup, Eddie?
bcjd – He doesn’t hit over the Mendoza line, he batted .189 last year.
He doesn’t even hit above the JBJ Line, his OPS was just .545 last year.
Vazquez does stay above the Engelberg line though, with a BMI of 36.
FPG
A ,’Bad News Bears ‘reference….
Engelberg had some excellent ‘underlying ‘ stats like ..wBMI & BMI+
cdc – hi!
I try to add humor periodically. LOL
Loved your underlying stats, well done sir!
I’m really getting into the WBC more than I expected I would. Eaton’s HR off Skubal, Yoshida’s performance, Abreu’s performance, Contreras’s performance, Roman’s performance.
And why don’t they have video reviews in the WBC? Rafaela is making great catches but the umpires are calling them hits instead.
FPG
Baseballs hard guys,I mean it really is you can love it believe me, but it don’t always love you back. It’s kind of like dating a German chick,you know.
Best line in the Billy Bob Thornton,B.N.B movie.
cdc – hi!
I don’t remember much of that Bears movie remake. The quote is funny, but was it somewhat stolen from an earlier movie?
youtube.com/watch?v=X1de5oOnMTU
A “combined no-hitter” is very much “a thing”. It was the first and only time it has been done in a World Series game.
There’s a seal clapping for you somewhere
Vasquez is the prime example of how wild the ball was in 2019. 23 hrs in ’19 and not a another season with more than 10
Ron – Fantastic point, his OPS jumped 258 points that year.
Why’s he wearing the Centurion hat in that foto? Fun times tho
that was part of the Twins home run celebration a few years ago.
That was part of the Twins home run celebrations a few years ago.
Vazquez probably breaks camp as the backup Catcher
Rsox – I wouldn’t be surprised, only because Yainer is a workhorse who will catch 2/3 of all games. Astros can manage with Vaz’s limp bat in the lineup for just 50 games.
Seeing CV called “Diaz’s understudy” was pretty funny; he’s 8 years older than Diaz and would be his backup. These MLBTR writers seem to like to recycle a few buzzy words that they think sound intelligent and eventually end up incorrectly using them.
Anyway, I agree with you guys on CV likely breaking camp with the big club. Even though Salazar hits lefty, I think Vazquez is the best option.
This Astros fan is happy to see him back. He is a good catcher
More accurately, he “was” a good catcher
If the astros not going to play Cavan Biggio then his dad should not deal with astros anymore. it disgrace that Astros wont play Cavan i want to see him play serious
I ama glad he is back we need Geroge Spinger back