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Jorge Alfaro

Nationals Sign Jorge Alfaro

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2:00pm: The Nationals have announced the signing. Alfaro jumps right onto the big league roster, and Stubbs has been optioned to Triple-A Rochester to create a 26-man roster spot. Millas was transferred to the 60-day IL to clear a 40-man roster spot. Unsurprisingly, that indicates that the fractured finger Millas suffered last week will end his season.

12:45pm: The Nationals have agreed to a major league deal with veteran catcher Jorge Alfaro, reports Andrew Golden of the Washington Post. The CAA client had been playing with the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate but opted out of his minor league contract yesterday to become a free agent.

The 32-year-old Alfaro hasn’t appeared in the majors since 2023. He appeared in 82 games and tallied 326 plate appearances with the Brewers’ Nashville affiliate in 2025, hitting .244/.285/.430 with 15 home runs and a dozen steals. Alfaro walked in only 3.4% of his plate appearances with Milwaukee’s Triple-A club and also fanned at an alarming 36.5% clip.

Despite those troubling rate stats, Alfaro will get the opportunity to return to the big leagues with the Nats. Washington has lost both Keibert Ruiz (concussion) and Drew Millas (fractured finger) to the injured list in recent weeks. Riley Adams and CJ Stubbs are currently handling catching duty in D.C.

In parts of eight major league seasons, Alfaro is a .253/.302/.393 hitter (86 wRC+) through 1710 trips to the plate. He’s drawn negative framing and blocking grades in that time but has controlled the running game well, as evidenced by a career 27.5% caught-stealing rate.

Alfaro has spent most of his big league time with the Marlins, who acquired him alongside Sixto Sanchez in the trade sending J.T. Realmuto to the division-rival Phillies. Miami hoped that in Alfaro — a consensus top-100 prospect at the time of the swap — they’d secured a long-term answer behind the plate. He was indeed a regular in Miami for three seasons, but Alfaro’s bat never lived up to his prospect billing, and he’s since bounced around the league on a series of minor league contracts.

There’s little enough time left in the current season that Alfaro, who has 5.133 years of major league service, can’t reach six years before the calendar runs out. As such, he’ll technically remain controllable into 2026 via arbitration, although barring an unexpectedly productive September, it seems likelier that he’ll be outrighted at season’s end and again become a minor league free agent.

Jorge Alfaro Opts Out Of Brewers Deal

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Catcher Jorge Alfaro has opted out of his minor league deal with the Brewers, per a team announcement relayed by Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The backstop is now a free agent and free to sign with any club.

Alfaro, 32, has appeared in eight big league seasons. He has a well-established profile as a guy who can hit home runs but with subpar walk and strikeout numbers and poor defense. In 82 Triple-A games this year, he continued to perform in that manner. His 3.4% walk rate and 36.5% strikeout rate with Nashville were bad numbers but he did put the ball over the fence 15 times. That led to a .244/.285/.430 line and 87 wRC+.

His path to big league playing with the Brewers wasn’t great. They have one of the best everyday guys in the league in William Contreras. For much of the year, they’ve had Eric Haase as the backup. Ahead of the deadline, they acquired Danny Jansen from the Rays, which bumped Haase off the roster and down to Triple-A. They also have one of the top catching prospects in the league in Jeferson Quero, who is on the 40-man and playing for Nashville.

That essentially put Alfaro fifth on the depth chart, so he’ll use the clause in his contract to look for a better situation. For his career, he has 48 home runs in 1,710 plate appearances, a 4.2% walk rate, 34% strikeout rate, .253/.302/.393 line and 86 wRC+.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Brewers To Sign Jorge Alfaro To Minor League Deal

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The Brewers and catcher Jorge Alfaro are in agreement on a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The backstop is represented by CAA Sports.

Alfaro, 32 in June, was once a top 1oo prospect. His power was considered his best trait and he has occasionally showed flashes of tapping into it during his big league career but he has largely undercut that with his lack of plate discipline or contact skills.

To this point, he has appeared in 496 major league games and stepped to the plate 1,710 times. Only 4.2% of those ended with Alfaro taking a walk while 34% of them resulted in a strikeout. Both of those numbers are well worse than typical league averages. He did launch 48 home runs in there but his .253/.302/.393 batting line leads to a wRC+ of 86.

That’s actually not awful production for a catcher, as backstops are usually about 10% below league par. In 2024, all MLB catchers combined to hit .234/.300/.378 for a 91 wRC+. But Alfaro was largely considered a bat-first prospect and that’s been borne out in the big leagues. Baseball Prospectus has graded him as a decent framer, close to average with the running game and subpar in terms of blocking. Statcast has liked his work with the running game but hasn’t been fond of his framing nor blocking. FanGraphs has been pretty down on his work apart from a nice bump in 2018. That middling glovework would perhaps be acceptable with big offensive numbers but Alfaro hasn’t been able to provide that.

The Brewers have a strong reputation for improving a catcher’s defense, so perhaps they can give Alfaro a bit of a bump there. Alfaro might have a bit of rust, since he essentially missed the 2024 season. He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs but was released just before Opening Day and didn’t sign anywhere else. For what it’s worth, he has been playing winter ball this offseason and performing well. In 12 games for Tigres del Licey of the Dominican Professional Baseball League, he hit .303/.361/.455. He had seven strikeouts in 36 plate appearances, a rate of 19.4%.

There are currently three catchers on Milwaukee’s 40-man roster. William Contreras, whose defensive metrics improved after coming over from Atlanta, is the clear number one. Eric Haase currently projects as the backup. His career numbers are fairly similar to Alfaro, in that he’s hit some home runs but has poor walk rates, strikeout rates and defensive grades. Jeferson Quero is one of the top prospects in the league but may not be a short-term option. He started 2024 at the Triple-A level but required shoulder surgery after just one game and missed the rest of the year.

Since Quero is just 22 years old, has just one game of Triple-A experience and missed essentially a full season, the Brewers will probably not want to push him too hard to start 2025. As such, Alfaro might slot in as #3 on the club’s depth chart right now behind Contreras and Haase, though further moves could obviously change that. He’ll give the club some experienced non-roster depth who could step onto the roster if an injury creates a need. If that comes to pass, he is out of options, which is also true of Haase.

Cubs Release Jorge Alfaro

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The Cubs released catcher Jorge Alfaro this evening, per Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun Times.

Alfaro, 31 in June, was in camp with the club on a minor league deal and had been informed last week that he wouldn’t make the club’s Opening Day roster out of camp. As an Article XX(B) free agent, Alfaro had the right to opt out of his minors deal with Chicago if not added to the 40-man roster. It’s unclear if he ever formally exercised that right, but he’ll now return to the open market where he can pursue opportunities elsewhere that may provide a clearer path to playing time at the big league level.

Once a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport, Alfaro was part of multiple significant trades as a youngster. After initially signing with the Rangers as an international free agent, he was included as part of the prospect package the club sent to Philadelphia in the Cole Hamels trade at the 2015 trade deadline. He made his big league debut with the Phillies the following year and slashed a solid .270/.327/.422 in 143 games with the club across three seasons before once again finding himself moved as part of the return in a blockbuster. This time, Alfaro was shipped to Miami as part of the return for All Star catcher J.T. Realmuto during the 2018-19 offseason.

Alfaro’s first season with the Marlins went rather well, as he slashed a respectable .262/.312/.425 with 18 home runs in 465 trips to the plate. His defense behind the plate left something to be desired, however, and over the next two seasons Alfaro would begin to deal with similar struggles on offense. In 123 games with the Marlins between the 2020 and 2021 seasons, he hit just .240/.282/.343 in 411 trips to the plate. That performance was good for a wRC+ of just 69, 31% worse than the league average hitter over that same period.

With his struggles with the glove now compounded by struggles at the plate, the Marlins decided to move on from Alfaro during the 2021-22 offseason by moving him to the Padres in a cash deal. Alfaro rebounded somewhat to post a decent 91 wRC+ in 82 games with the Padres in 2022 but found himself non-tendered that November, after which point he spent the 2023 campaign bouncing between several organizations while spending time with the Red Sox and Rockies at the major league level.

Looking ahead, it would be something of a surprise to see Alfaro land a major league deal given his struggles in recent years. With that being said, the Colombia native’s prospect pedigree and previous offensive success at a position where upper-level depth is particularly valuable should make him one of the more attractive options to catching-needy clubs available on the market at this stage of the offseason, and it’s easy to imagine him finding a minor league deal where he’ll be more likely to impact the big league roster than he was in Chicago, where the Cubs are poised to rely on a tandem of Yan Gomes and Miguel Amaya behind the plate.

Cubs To Begin Season With Wicks, Assad In Rotation; Smyly In Bullpen

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With Opening Day now one week away, the Cubs made some decisions on their starting pitching plan to begin the year. Manager Craig Counsell told members of the club’s beat, including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune, that left-hander Jordan Wicks and Javier Assad will have rotation jobs to open the campaign. Veteran lefty Drew Smyly, meanwhile, will head to the bullpen. In a separate tweet, Montemurro confirms that righty Jameson Taillon will start the season on the injured list. In terms of the catching group, Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times relays that both Jorge Alfaro and Joe Hudson have been told they won’t make the team but are staying in big league camp for now.

The Cubs came into camp with a front four of Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, Shota Imanaga and Taillon, with one spot available for guys like Wicks, Assad, Smyly, Hayden Wesneski or Caleb Kilian. In early March, Kilian was diagnosed with a teres major strain and will be out for several months, taking him out of the competition.

Taillon was dealt much smaller issues but they nonetheless slowed his progression. He initially had some soreness is his calves and that was followed by some lower back tightness. He still has not appeared in an official Spring Training game and will begin the season on the IL. He told Bruce Levine of WSCR on the weekend that he was planning to throw off a mound this week, which shows some progress, but he’s likely still a few weeks away from readiness.

With Taillon out of action, there were two open spots at the back of the rotation, which will go to Wicks and Assad. Wicks is one of the club’s top pitching prospects and he made his major league debut last year with a 4.41 earned run average in seven starts. In 91 1/3 innings of minor league work, he had a 3.55 ERA, 26.5% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate.

He only struck out 16.3% of hitters in his first taste of the majors, but in a fairly small sample of 34 2/3 innings. For what it’s worth, he’s posted a 2.60 ERA this spring, though with a modest 16.9% strikeout rate. But he has also limited his walks to 2.8% and it’s a small sample of 17 1/3 innings. He’ll get a chance to take a step forward at the major league level to start the season. He still has a full slate of options, so the Cubs could easily send him back to the minors when Taillon is healthy if they so choose.

Assad has a bit more experience, having served in a swing role for the Cubs over the past two years. He has a 3.06 ERA in 147 innings over 41 appearances, including 18 starts. His 20.2% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate are both slightly worse than league average but he’s kept 44.7% of balls in play on the ground and was in the 78th percentile of qualified pitchers last year in terms of average exit velocity. He has allowed seven earned runs in nine innings this spring. He has a couple of options and could wind up in the minors later but the Cubs have used him as a long reliever out of the bullpen in the past.

That long relief role could perhaps be taken by Smyly, who was also in that role for a time last year. The Cubs signed him to a two-year, $19MM deal last offseason but he struggled in 2023 and wound up moving to the bullpen on multiple occasions. He finished last year with an even ERA of 5.00, but it was 5.62 as a starter and 2.51 out of the ’pen. That latter number was in a small sample of 28 2/3 innings but the Cubs will be hoping his stuff will play up in shorter stints. Spring results are to be taken with a grain of salt but he hasn’t done much to win back a rotation job lately, with a 7.71 ERA, 15.1% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate in 11 2/3 innings.

His past experience as a starter could have him working multi-innings stints as a reliever, but he could also be utilized as a situational lefty. The only other southpaw reliever currently on the roster is Luke Little, who has just 6 2/3 innings of major league experience and notable control issues in the minors.

As for the catchers, it’s not too surprising they won’t make the club. The Cubs have Yan Gomes and Miguel Amaya set to be their primary catching tandem. Gomes is a 12-year veteran coming off a solid season while Amaya has been a notable prospect for a while and made his major league debut last year. It’s unclear if either Alfaro or Hudson have opt-outs in their minor league deals, but it seems they will be staying in camp for the time being.

Cubs, Jorge Alfaro Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs and catcher Jorge Alfaro are in agreement on a minor league deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. The backstop will receive an invitation to major league Spring Training.

Alfaro, 31 in June, was once considered a top 100 prospect in his time as a minor leaguer. He was originally signed as an amateur out of Colombia by the Rangers, but was twice moved as part of a notable trade. He was one of eight players in the deal in that was headlined by Cole Hamels going from the Phillies to the Rangers, then was flipped to the Marlins in the J.T. Realmuto trade.

But he hasn’t been able to live up to that prospect hype just yet. Even as a minor leaguer, his power came with poor plate discipline, but strikeouts have been a big problem in the majors. Defensively, he was considered strong in terms of controlling the running game but not great at blocking, which has also been borne out in the big leagues.

In 1,710 plate appearances to this point, he has walked in just 4.2% of them while getting punched out at a 34% clip. His overall batting line of .253/.302/.393 translated to a wRC+ of 86. On Statcast’s catcher throwing leaderboard, he’s been one of the better backstops since his 2016 debut. But when it comes to blocking, with Statcast’s data going back to 2018, Alfaro is dead last out of 215 catchers to see action in that time.

Despite those flaws, as the old saying goes, there’s no such thing as a bad minor league deal. The Cubs have veteran Yan Gomes and youngster Miguel Amaya set to split the catching duties but no other catcher on the 40-man roster. In the event of an injury, Alfaro can give them a bit of experienced non-roster depth.

Marlins, Jorge Alfaro Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Marlins have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran catcher Jorge Alfaro, reports Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). The CAA client will return for a second stint with the Fish, having previously spent the 2019-21 seasons in Miami. He’ll be assigned to Triple-A Jacksonville.

Alfaro, 30, originally signed with the Rangers as an amateur out of Colombia but was traded to the Phillies in the Cole Hamels blockbuster and then to the Marlins as part of Miami’s return for J.T. Realmuto. Alfaro logged 876 plate appearances in his three seasons with the Marlins, batting a combined .252/.298/.386 before being traded to the Padres in exchange for cash in Dec. 2021.

The 2023 season has seen Alfaro pinball around the league. Alfaro signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox in January but opted out of that deal in June after a big start to his season in Triple-A. He landed with the Rockies on a new minor league deal but was quickly selected to the Majors, where he hit .161/.188/.387 in a tiny sample of 32 plate appearances. Cut loose by Colorado, Alfaro returned to the Red Sox — this time on a big league deal. He went 2-for-17 and lasted just eight games in Boston before being designated for assignment and again electing free agency.

Now back with the Marlins, Alfaro will serve as some experienced catching depth in the upper minors. He’s never really delivered on his longstanding status as a top prospect, batting .252/.303/.393 in 1710 plate appearances at the big league level between five teams. However, Alfaro has a solid track record in Triple-A and is enjoying a big year there in 2023, posting a combined .323/.366/.524 line between the top affiliates for the Rox and Sox.

Catching help has been a perennial need for the Marlins since they traded Realmuto, as neither Alfaro nor his successor (fellow trade acquisition Jacob Stallings) has taken the job and run with it. Stallings is sporting a dismal .188/.290/.250 batting line on the current season, and fellow backstop Nick Fortes has only been marginally better at .221/.270/.312. Both have delivered sound defensive grades — Fortes, in particular, has been strong — but the lack of offense is glaring. Stallings and Fortes have combined for a .207/.280/.288 output at the plate, and the resulting 60 wRC+ (suggesting they’ve been 40% below league-average at the plate) ranks 29th in the Majors, leading only the Guardians.

Jorge Alfaro Elects Free Agency

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Catcher Jorge Alfaro has elected to become a free agent, according to his MLB.com player page.  Alfaro was designated for assignment by the Red Sox earlier this week and he cleared waivers, then choosing to return to the open market rather than accept an outright assignment to Boston’s Triple-A affiliate.

Alfaro has now been a free agent four times in the last eight months, with three of those trips coming since the start of June.  After signing a minor league deal with the Red Sox during the offseason, Alfaro exercised his June 1 opt-out clause and then caught on with the Rockies on another minors pact.  Colorado selected Alfaro to the majors for 10 games, but then DFA’ed the veteran in early July, and Alfaro returned to the Sox on a Major League contract after again choosing free agency over an outright assignment.

In reaching five years of MLB service time last season, Alfaro gained the right to reject any outright assignment in favor of free agency.  The 30-year-old appears intent on seeing if he can find another guaranteed big league deal or at least a minor league contract on a team with more opportunity for an eventual promotion to the majors.  That might preclude a return to Boston, now that Reese McGuire is back from the injured list and sharing time with Connor Wong.  Alfaro has hit only .146/.212/.292 over 52 plate appearances this season, but with catching depth scarce around the league, it might not take him long to secure another contract.

Red Sox Designate Jorge Alfaro For Assignment

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The Red Sox have designated catcher Jorge Alfaro for assignment, according to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. The move makes room for catcher Reese McGuire on the active roster after he was activated from the 10-day injured list this evening.

Alfaro, 30, joined the Red Sox in early July on a major-league deal after previously signing a minor league pact with the club this past offseason. Alfaro opted out of that minors deal and tested the open market, where he landed with the Rockies for a ten-game stint. He was then DFA’d and returned to the Red Sox organization for an eight-game stint.

Once a key piece in the deal that sent J.T. Realmuto to Philadelphia, Alfaro is now enduring his fourth consecutive season of significant struggles. Since the start of the shortened 2020 campaign, Alfaro has slashed just .236/.278/.354 in 737 plate appearances, good for a wRC+ of just 75. While that would be a manageable figure for a quality defensive catcher, Alfaro is generally regarded as a well below-average receiver behind the plate.

Now DFA’d for the second time this summer, Alfaro figures to test the open market for the fourth time in the past calendar year unless he is claimed on waivers. With the trade deadline in the rear-view, Alfaro could be an attractive depth option at catcher given his previous prospect pedigree, years of major league experience, and presumably risk-free acquisition cost of a minor league deal. As for the Red Sox, they’ll return to their typical catching tandem of Connor Wong and McGuire going forward, with Ronaldo Hernandez, Stephen Scott, and Caleb Hamilton available as depth options at the Triple-A level.

Red Sox Sign Jorge Alfaro To Major League Contract

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The Red Sox have signed catcher Jorge Alfaro to a Major League deal, tweets Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. He’s already in the clubhouse and will be active for tonight’s game. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo adds that Caleb Hamilton has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Alfaro, 30, began the season in the Red Sox organization on a minor league deal and raked with their Triple-A club in Worcester, batting .320/.367/.520 but never receiving a call to the Majors before exercising an opt-out in his deal. He became a free agent and signed another minor league deal with the Rockies, who selected him to the Major League roster after just three Triple-A games.

Things didn’t go particularly well for Alfaro in Colorado. The veteran backstop appeared in 10 games, tallied 32 plate appearances and batted just .161/.188/.387 before being designated for assignment. The Rockies passed him through outright waivers, but as a player with five-plus years of service, Alfaro had the ability to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. The Rockies never publicly confirmed that outcome, but today’s news makes clear that’s precisely the route Alfaro took. He’ll now head straight to the Red Sox’ big league roster, supplanting Hamilton and pairing with Connor Wong behind the dish.

Formerly one of the top catching prospects in the sport, Alfaro has appeared in parts of eight seasons but hasn’t seen his on-field production line up with the fanfare he received prior to his debut. In 1690 plate appearances as a big leaguer, he’s a .254/.302/.396 hitter. Defensively, he’s never been regarded as a premier defender, which led the Marlins to try him in left field for a bit back in 2021. He’s primarily been a catcher and designated hitter in the minors this year, though the Sox did give him a pair of starts at first base as well.

Hamilton, 28, appeared in four games with the Sox but went hitless in six plate appearances. He was hitting .180/.285/.310 in 116 Triple-A plate appearances prior to his promotion to the big leagues and is a lifetime .206/.316/.377 hitter in parts of four seasons at that level. The Red Sox will have a week to trade Hamilton, pass him through outright waivers, or release him.

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