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Diego Cartaya

Twins Outright Diego Cartaya

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The Twins have sent catcher Diego Cartaya outright to Triple-A Saint Paul, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic. There was no previous indication that he had been removed from the roster but it appears the club quietly put him on waivers recently. Their 40-man roster count drops to 39.

The Twins may have some specific plan for the roster spot they just opened but it’s also possible they just figured now was a good time to get Cartaya through waivers unclaimed. Once a top prospect, his stock was already at a low point to start this year, thanks to some subpar numbers at the plate in 2023 and 2024. He’s out to a horrendous start here in 2025, with a .080/.207/.200 line through seven Triple-A contests. He has struck out in 18 of his 29 plate appearances, an awful rate of 62.1%.

As of a few years ago, Cartaya was in the Dodgers’ system and one of the top prospects in the league. Baseball America had him as high as #18 overall going into the 2023 season. At that point, he had a combined .269/.380/.502 batting line and 136 wRC+ in his minor league career. He battled a number of injuries in that time, particularly in his back, but the results were clearly there when he was on the field.

But it’s been a downhill slide since then. Over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, he hit .205/.300/.371 in the minors for an 81 wRC+. The Dodgers, who had added him to their 40-man in November of 2022, designated him for assignment in January of this year when they signed Hyeseong Kim. He was flipped to the Twins for minor league right-hander Jose Vasquez.

As of a few months ago, his stock was down enough that he lost his roster spot with the Dodgers, but there was evidently still enough league-wide interest that the Twins gave up a minor leaguer to skip the waiver queue. But after his dreadful start this year, it appears the league’s view of him has dropped even further. 29 teams passed on the chance to grab him off waivers and stash him in Triple-A.

For the Twins, they have Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vázquez as their big league catchers. Should an injury situation pop up, Jair Camargo is still on the 40-man and playing at Triple-A. Cartaya will give them some non-roster depth and try to play his way back into a spot. Players need a previous career outright or three years of service time to have the right to reject an outright assignment. Cartaya has no major league service yet and this is his first career outright, so he’ll have to stick with the Saints.

Photo courtesy of Chris Tilley, Imagn Images

Dodgers Trade Diego Cartaya To Twins

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The Twins have acquired former top catching prospect Diego Cartaya from the Dodgers in exchange for minor league right-hander Jose Vasquez, per announcements from both clubs. Cartaya was designated for assignment earlier in the week. Minnesota had an open 40-man roster spot, and their roster is now full.

As recently as two years ago, Cartaya was a consensus top-20 prospect in the entire sport. He’s still just 23 years old, but the Venezuelan-born backstop’s offensive development has stalled out in the upper minors. Back in 2022, Cartaya slashed a combined .254/.389/.503 with 22 homers and a 14.3% walk rate across two Class-A levels. He’s followed that with lackluster performances in both Double-A (.204/.303/.379 in two seasons) and Triple-A (.208/.293/.350 in 208 plate appearances last year).

Though his bat hasn’t progressed, scouting reports in recent seasons have praised improved glovework from the 6’3″, 219-pound Cartaya. Both Baseball America and MLB.com noted in their 2024 midseason reports on Cartaya that he made notable gains with his framing, receiving and blocking. He’d already been touted for plus arm strength, though shaky accuracy has led to a roughly average 20% caught-stealing rate in his five minor league seasons.

If nothing else, the tools are there for Cartaya to be a solid defender behind the plate and a patient, OBP-focused hitter in the batter’s box. He did turn in a solid .247/.370/.377 slash against lefties last year, though that came in just 92 plate appearances and he struggled immensely versus southpaws in a similar sample a year prior. Cartaya still has one minor league option year remaining, so the Twins can send him to Triple-A to begin the season without needing to pass him through waivers.

The Twins already have an above-average starter in Ryan Jeffers and a pricey, glove-first backup in Christian Vazquez. Catcher Jair Camargo and catcher/first baseman Mickey Gasper (acquired from the Red Sox last month) are both on the 40-man roster as well. Minnesota has been hopeful of trading Vazquez and a portion of his $10MM salary as they seek to scale back payroll. There could well be a market if they’re willing to eat around half that sum, and the addition of Cartaya creates some further depth in the event that they do indeed move Vazquez (or, more surprisingly, listen to offers on Jeffers).

In return for Cartaya, the Dodgers will pick up a project right-hander. Vasquez, listed at 6’4″ and a 200 pounds, signed with the Twins out of the Dominican Republic as part of their 2022 international class. He’s spent the past two years — his age-18 and age-19 seasons — pitching for Minnesota’s affiliate in the Dominican Summer League. The bottom-line results aren’t much to look at, as Vasquez has been tagged for a 8.05 ERA in 57 innings. Part of that was a sky-high ERA north of 11.00 in 2023, however. He pitched to a more palatable 4.99 mark in 30 2/3 frames this past season.

Command was a major issue for Vasquez in ’23, evidenced by a ghastly 21.9% walk rate. He made major strides in 2024, however, cutting that mark in half (10.7%) while nearly doubling his strikeout rate from 17.8% to 32.1%. He was a bit older than the average DSL player last year and figures to head to one of the Dodgers’ full-season affiliates in 2025. There’s some obvious bat-missing potential for the lanky right-hander, but he’ll need to make further gains with his command and find a way to get left-handed opponents out. Vasquez held righties to an awful .203/.309/.290 output in 2024 but was scorched for a .314/.407/.392 line against southpaws.

Dodgers Designate Diego Cartaya For Assignment

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The Dodgers designated former top catching prospect Diego Cartaya for assignment. The move opens a 40-man roster spot for Hyeseong Kim, whose three-year deal is official.

Cartaya has yet to play in the major leagues, but he’s a bigger name than most players who find themselves in DFA limbo. The Venezuela native was one of the best talents in his amateur signing class and inked a $2.5MM bonus in 2018. He performed well in the low minors and shot to the top of the Dodger system. Baseball America ranked him as L.A.’s #1 prospect entering both the 2022 and ’23 campaigns. He was among BA’s 25 best minor league talents in both years.

The Dodgers added Cartaya to their 40-man roster after the 2022 season. There was no chance they’d leave him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. Cartaya’s long-term future on a team that already rostered Will Smith was debatable, but he at least seemed like a potential key trade chip. That he has been DFA just over two years later demonstrates how far his stock has fallen.

Cartaya’s bat has stalled in the upper minors. He hit .189 with a 29% strikeout rate over 93 Double-A games in 2023. While that knocked him off Top 100 lists, he still ranked eighth among Dodger prospects at Baseball America going into last season. Cartaya improved offensively in his second shot at Double-A, where he hit .236/.354/.379 over 45 contests. He couldn’t maintain that after being promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City in the middle of June.

The 23-year-old hit .208/.293/.350 while striking out at a 27.4% clip across 49 games in the Pacific Coast League. He had the second-lowest batting average and fifth-lowest OBP among PCL hitters with at least 200 plate appearances. Cartaya had been surpassed by Dalton Rushing as the top catching prospect in the system, while Smith signed a contract extension that’ll keep him in Los Angeles through 2033.

After Cartaya struggled through consecutive down seasons, the Dodgers are willing to move on. They’ll have five days to trade him or place him on waivers. Another team will almost certainly roll the dice, likely via trade that’d allow them to jump the waiver order.

Cartaya draws praise for his defensive acumen and has drawn plenty of walks even as his numbers have fallen in the high minors. While the swing-and-miss means he’s unlikely to become a franchise catcher, there are probably teams that feel he’ll be a capable backup or a potential low-end regular. Cartaya still has a minor league option remaining. An acquiring team would be able to send him to Triple-A for another season.

Rimas Sports Agency Facing MLBPA Sanctions

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5:15pm: Reporter Francys Romero relays that Ronald Acuna Jr. hired Rimas Sports as his agency in recent days.

2:20pm: Rimas Sports, the fledgling baseball agency launched last year by rapper and singer Bad Bunny, is facing sanctions from the MLB Players Association for violating the MLBPA’s agency regulations, as first reported by Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic. ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Alden Gonzalez and Jorge Castillo have also reported on the unfolding controversy. Per the ESPN report, Rimas’ lead agent, William Arroyo, has had his agent certification revoked.

Multiple other agencies have filed complaints against Rimas, alleging that the firm has offered large sums of cash and gifts to players as incentive to leave their prior agencies and join Rimas — a violation of the MLBPA’s code of conduct for agents. Ghiroli writes that some players have allegedly been given new cars. She adds that Rimas has had employees who are not certified as agents but have nevertheless represented themselves as such and acted in that capacity. Those employees had been seeking certification but are now expected to have their requests denied, per both Ghiroli and ESPN.

Rimas issued the following statement on the controversy:

“At Rimas Sports, we uphold the highest standards of professionalism and integrity of our industry. Out of respect for an ongoing process within the context of the MLBPA Agent Regulations, we will refrain from making any comments at this time. We remain committed to continue serving our clients with excellence.”

While decertification of a firm’s lead agent is obviously rare and noteworthy, violations of this manner are hardly unprecedented. Former MLBTR writer Zach Links and I wrote spoke with various agents about client poaching as far back as 2014.

Rimas Sports most notably negotiated the seven-year, $63.5MM extension for Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar earlier this year. Included among their other clientele are Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez, Mets infielder Ronny Mauricio, Nationals outfielder Eddie Rosario (who only hired Rimas this offseason), Giants infielder Wilmer Flores, Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio, Reds infielder Santiago Espinal and Dodgers catching prospect Diego Cartaya (among others). The MLBPA has informed all of Rimas’ clients about the purported transgressions, per ESPN and The Athletic.

Dodgers Notes: Paxton, Muncy, Cartaya, Frasso

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James Paxton threw 96 innings with the Red Sox last season, marking his return to somewhat regular action after injuries limited him to 21 2/3 big league frames in 2020-21 and no innings at all in 2022.  Paxton’s comeback year was then basically two seasons in one — the excellent 2.76 ERA he posted over his first 56 innings, followed by an ugly 6.98 ERA in his final 40 innings of work.

As Paxton tells Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times, “I felt like I kind of reached a point where my body was just a little burned out.  I didn’t have much left in the tank.”  Paxton kept pushing since the Red Sox were still on the fringes of the playoff race, and struggled in particular once he was moved to a regular turn of four days’ rest between starts.

“Early in the season, I had a lot of extra rest, and then we went to a shorter leash.  Coming off a surgery and that much time off, I wasn’t conditioned for that,” Paxton said.  “If you start off going [every five days] your body gets accustomed to that, whereas if you go six all the time, that’s what your body gets accustomed to.  We’re creatures of habit.”

Despite the rough finish to his season, Paxton still landed $7MM from the Dodgers on a one-year free agent contract, even if that $7MM total dropped from an initial $11MM guarantee due to some concerns the team had about his overall health.  The 35-year-old lefty is hopeful that getting some innings under his belt last season will better help him manage the length of the 2024 campaign, plus L.A. will deploy “somewhat of a six-man rotation,” according to assistant pitching coach Connor McGuinness.  The idea is to keep all of the Dodgers’ hurlers fresh and healthy, plus some other reinforcements in Clayton Kershaw and Dustin May could join the pitching mix after the middle of the season.

Whereas Paxton’s 2023 season was basically divided in two, Max Muncy’s year was a bit more of a roller-coaster before he finished a pretty typical year of production.  The infielder hit .212/.333/.475 over 579 plate appearances while matching his career high of 36 home runs, translating to a 118 wRC+.  Los Angeles was impressed enough to sign Muncy to a new contract extension, guaranteeing him $24MM through 2025 while also tacking a $10MM club option on his services for 2026.

Muncy’s recipe of homers, walks, low averages, and high strikeouts is pretty set, but as he enters his age-33 season, Muncy feels he has more to offer as a defensive player.  He told reporters (including Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register) that his offseason regiment included cutting 15 pounds and focusing more on flexibility training.

“It was just making sure my feet move a little bit more, and getting the knees healthy.  Last year, I had a little trouble with just not staying down on the ball,” Muncy said.  “I was coming up out of my fielding stance and everything.  And when you’re doing that, it’s hard to read the hops and I kept putting myself in bad positions last year with bad hops….So the focus was just making sure that my feet stay moving.  Just allowing myself to read the ball and make moves on it.”

There’s basically nowhere to go but up for Muncy defensively, as the public defensive metrics (-7 Outs Above Average, -3 Defensive Runs Saved, -14.8 UZR/150) were unanimously unimpressed with his third base glovework in 2023.  The move to more or less a full-time third base role has come as the Dodgers have brought superstar talent into Muncy’s other positions — Shohei Ohtani is now locked in at DH, Freddie Freeman at first base, and Mookie Betts is now moving into  everyday second base duty.

“I’ve been very open about how I want to stay here for the rest of my career….So if I want to play here, I need to make sure I’m in the field, and the best way to do that is just put myself in a good spot,” Muncy said.

In other Dodgers news, GM Brandon Gomes told Plunkett and other reporters that catching prospect Diego Cartaya has been dealing with a back problem but the “full expectation” is that Cartaya will be set for the start of the Double-A season.  Back problems have bothered Cartaya in the past, and the last thing the catcher needs is an injury setback as he looks to bounce back from a difficult season.  A top-20 prospect in the sport heading into the 2023 campaign, Cartaya hit only .189/.278/.379 over 403 PA at Double-A last season, dropping his stock as a potential catcher of the future.

Nick Frasso is another top-100 prospect looking at a lost year, as he was already expected to miss the 2024 season after undergoing shoulder surgery back in November.  Gomes added that Frasso also had a “clean-up” surgery on his right hip labrum, though it doesn’t appear as though this second procedure will impact the right-hander’s timeline.  If all goes well, Gomes thinks Frasso will be able to pitch in the Arizona Fall League.

Bad Bunny And Noah Assad Launch Rimas Sports Agency

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Rimas Entertainment CEO Noah Assad, his client Bad Bunny and Rimas executive Jonathan Miranda have launched a sports management agency, per a report from Thania Garcia of Variety. MLB certified agent William Arroyo is working for Rimas, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post.

“We are thrilled to break into a new industry with the launch of Rimas Sports. In the music world we accomplished success by knowing how to develop talent, helping our clients reach their vision by catering to their unique needs,” said Assad in a statement. “This new venture is an expansion of that mission as we aim to bring greater representation to the Latin community in the world of sports.”

Bad Bunny is already well known on account of his music career, where he has been represented by Rimas for many years. He’s also clearly a baseball fan, as he took part in the Celebrity Softball Game during last year’s All-Star festivities, as covered by Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone. Now he will get involved in baseball in a different way, with he and Rimas getting into the agency side of things.

Per Garcia’s report, Miranda will serve as president of the agency, which will offer a wide range of services from agent management to public relations and more. Former big leaguer and Hall of Famer Iván Rodríguez is involved as an ambassador.

They seem to have already inked a number of major and minor leaguers, with Garcia’s report listing the following players as being part of the Rimas roster:

Heyman says that Fernando Tatis Jr. has employed Rimas for marketing but will retain Dan Lozano of MVP Sports Group as his agent for baseball purposes.

Dodgers Select Four Players

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The Dodgers have selected catcher Diego Cartaya, infielder Michael Busch and outfielders Andy Pages and Jonny DeLuca to the 40-man roster, per a team announcement. That quartet is now protected from being taken in next month’s Rule 5 Draft.

It’s a notable group to join the 40-man roster. Cartaya, Busch and Pages, in particular, all rank among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects in the game, with Cartaya drawing a particularly impressive placement at No. 9 overall.

The 21-year-old Cartaya split his 2022 season between Class-A and High-A, where he was notably younger than the league average at both levels. The age gap didn’t deter him, however, as he turned in a combined .254/.389/.503 batting line with 22 home runs and doubles alike. Cartaya is considered a work in progress with the glove but boasts huge raw power and a keen eye at the plate, evidenced by a walk rate north of 14% in 2022.

Busch, meanwhile, is a second baseman who slugged 32 home runs, walked at an 11.5% clip and struck out in 26% of his plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A in 2022. His combined .274/.365/.516 batting line shows plenty of promise, even though scouting reports question his overall defensive value. BA lists him 46th on its top 100.

Pages, ranked 72nd by BA, hit .236/.336/.468 in 132 games as a 21-year-old in Double-A, more than holding his own against more advanced pitching. He also fared well in the Arizona Fall League, batting .296/.398/.506 in his 98 plate appearances there. He swatted 26 home runs in Double-A this year and 31 in High-A a year ago, and BA notes that Pages has some of the best raw power of any prospect in baseball.

As for DeLuca, the 24-year-old doesn’t draw the same fanfare as today’s other three additions, but his .260/.347/.541 batting line, 25 homers, 22 doubles, five triples and 17 stolen bases were convincing enough for the Dodgers to protect him. DeLuca fanned in just 14.3% of his 119 plate appearances in Double-A this year, and while that’s a small sample from a late-in-the-year promotion, it likely tickets him for a return effort there to begin the 2023 season. With a strong showing, he could be in Triple-A before long, and a look in the Majors next season is certainly plausible now that he’s in the upper minors and on the 40-man.

Big Hype Prospects: Juan Soto Edition

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This week on Big Hype Prospects, we’ll take a peek at some players who could find themselves shipped to the Nationals in the next 12 days. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, seven teams are currently in the mix for Juan Soto, although a surprise or three are liable to check in on this once-in-a-decade opportunity.

Five Big Hype Prospects

Diego Cartaya, 20, C, LAD (A+)
(A): 163 PA, 9 HR, .260/.405/.550
(A+): 137 PA, 5 HR, .288/.423/.514

Seemingly everybody who goes to watch Cartaya comes away impressed by the precocious catcher. If there’s a flaw in his game, it’s that he’s already embraced an extreme approach as a hitter. His combination of 50 percent fly balls, 50 percent pulled contact, and near-30 percent strikeout rate mark him as a classic slugger. He’s on a 30-homer pace this season – a rarity both for players this young and for catching prospects. He even draws praise as a defender, especially for his arm.

Prior to the lost COVID year, Cartaya had a reputation for aggression. Since then, he’s averaged a 13 percent walk rate in 437 plate appearances. Unfortunately, the more discerning approach is also why his strikeout rate has spiked. There’s wiggle room for more adjustments related to his swing decisions.

The Nationals already have one former Dodger catching prospect in their lineup (Keibert Ruiz). Even so, Cartaya almost certainly would be included in a Soto trade. As a centerpiece, he might have less heft than others we discuss today. We’ve known for over a decade that a pitching prospect is considerably less valuable than an equally skilled positional prospect. That mostly comes down to attrition associated with pitching. Catchers lurk between pitchers and the other positions – various flavors of attrition can play spoiler to an otherwise great prospect.

Additional notable Dodgers prospects include Michael Busch, Andy Pages, Bobby Miller, and Ryan Pepiot.

Francisco Alvarez, 20, C, NYM (AAA)
(AA) 296 PA, 18 HR, .277/.368/.553
(AAA) 34 PA, .087/.324/.130

If Cartaya is precocious, then I’m not sure we have a word for Alvarez. He’s two months younger than Cartaya and outperformed the Dodger prospect while playing in Double-A. Although it hasn’t gone swimmingly (yet), signs point to improvement ahead. For one, his .125 BABIP and .043 ISO will normalize. Alvarez is arguably the top prospect in the minors.

While the Steve Cohen Mets have shown no qualms with expending resources, their farm system is thin. Moreover, acquiring Soto would ensure they surpass the fourth luxury tax tier. The 80 percent tax rate associated with payrolls over $290MM has already been dubbed the “Cohen Tax.” Many observers believe Patrick Corbin will need to be absorbed as well. Whether or not the Mets are willing to take on these extra expenditures, it’s unclear the Nationals would risk losing another elite outfielder to a division rival.

The Mets next-best prospects are Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, and Alex Ramirez. Mark Vientos could have modest appeal for his proximity to the Majors.

Anthony Volpe, 21, SS, (AA)
348 PA, 12 HR, 35 SB, .253/.351/.461

Volpe had a chilly start to his 2022 campaign. Since mid-May, he’s batting .303/.386/.541 with 9.0 percent walk and 14.8 percent strikeout rates. He’s been ready for promotion for weeks if not longer. That he remains in Double-A could reflect the Yankees willingness to trade him at the deadline. As the top true shortstop prospect, he’d go a long way towards landing Soto.

The Yankees know the appeal of generational talents to their fan base, but they also know the value of a good, homegrown shortstop. Volpe has all the makings of a future All-Star. The presence of Oswald Peraza – also a well-regarded shortstop prospect – means the Yankees can probably hang onto a middle infielder for their 2023 campaign. They can attempt to tempt the Nationals with the likes of Jasson Dominguez, Alexander Vargas, and a brace of Major League-adjacent pitchers like Clarke Schmidt, Luis Medina, Deivi Garcia, and Luis Gil among others.

Jordan Walker, 20, 3B, STL (AA)
329 PA, 8 HR, 15 SB, .304/.392/.486

Like Volpe, Walker has seemingly overstayed his welcome in Double-A and could be hanging out for trade reasons. The Cardinals have sufficient infield depth to consider Walker expendable. As we discussed in this column last week, his prodigious power is somewhat wasted on a grounder-oriented batted ball profile. That same approach has helped him to hit for a high average despite plenty of swing-and-miss.

St. Louis is stocked with a deep system of future contributors even if scouting reports aren’t always enthusiastic. Juan Yepez would match the Nationals desire for a Major League return, and he’s a somewhat awkward fit on the current Cardinals roster. Nolan Gorman, Matthew Liberatore, Zack Thompson, and Masyn Winn are just a few of the others who might appeal to Washington. They’ll need to offer a lot of quantity to secure a Soto trade.

Marco Luciano, 20, SS/3B, SFG (A+)
164 PA, 8 HR, .288/.360/.507

Luciano is currently sidelined with a back injury. Prior to landing on the shelf in early-June, he’d shown considerable improvement in his second exposure to High-A. Not only was he hitting for power again, he also rediscovered his previously adequate plate discipline. Luciano is expected to slide down the defensive spectrum, but there’s still a chance he might stick as a bat-first shortstop.

The Giants system features a few tantalizing talents, but they’re mostly in the low minors. In addition to Luciano and Luis Matos (see below), San Francisco could entice with Kyle Harrison, Patrick Bailey, or Heliot Ramos. Unlike some other suitors, they’d need to spend most of their best prospect capital to consummate a deal.

Five More

Gunnar Henderson, BAL (21) and Grayson Rodriguez, BAL (22): The Orioles might not be everyone’s favorites to land Soto, but their combination of top farm system, nonexistent future commitments, and pivot back to relevancemake them the perfect match – if they’re mentally prepared to make a bold move. Henderson and Rodriguez are now widely-regarded as Top 5 prospects. Baltimore has another dozen prospects who look like future big-league contributors. Henderson has run into some strikeout issues upon promotion to Triple-A. Rodriguez is currently recovering from a lat injury. He was on the cusp of making his Major League debut when he suffered the injury.

Luis Matos, SFG (20): Matos has struggled in High-A this season. His scouting grades point to a bright future. However, unlike many top prospects in this era, his prospect ranking is built upon projection on his frame and tools rather than on-field results. The Nationals have the wherewithal to be picky when dealing Soto. Matos’ inclusion will depend on what their scouts say.

Noelvi Marte, SEA (20): With Julio Rodriguez untouchable – even in a Soto trade – Marte is the Mariners next-best bullet. Since late-June, he’s batting an incredible .390/.478/.729 with as many walks as strikeouts. Seattle can prime the pump with Jarred Kelenic, George Kirby, Matt Brash, Harry Ford, and/or Emerson Hancock.

Robert Hassell, SDP (20): The biggest barrier for the Padres is their long-term finances. They certainly have the prospects to get a deal done including a number of MLB-ready players. Hassell looks like a plausible centerpiece, a player who could join the Majors in late-2023. He’s currently thriving in High-A. If the Padres prefer not to part with C.J. Abrams, Luis Campusano, or MacKenzie Gore – all of whom have big league experience and are well-regarded – then they could offer toolsy youngsters like James Wood and Jackson Merrill. Eguy Rosario and Esteury Ruiz should be appealing too.

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