The Marlins’ Historically Feeble Catching Corps
The Marlins have been searching for a long-term answer at catcher since trading J.T. Realmuto to the Phillies back in February of 2019. The organizational hope at the time was that Jorge Alfaro, acquired alongside righty Sixto Sanchez and lefty Will Stewart in that very trade, could step up and fill the role. That never really came to fruition, and the Fish have cycled through him, Jacob Stallings and a long list of veteran role players in an effort to hold things over at the position.
It’s never gone particularly well, but it’s also never been as bad as it is right now. The Marlins opened the season with glove-first Nick Fortes and trade acquisition Christian Bethancourt lined up to shoulder the workload behind the plate. The results are quite literally some of the worst in history. Through the Marlins’ first 25 games — more than 15% of their season — they’ve gotten exactly five hits from their catchers. All have come from Fortes, who has three singles and a pair of doubles on the year. He’s 5-for-46 at the plate. Bethancourt is hitless in 23 plate appearances. Jhonny Pereda, recently selected from Triple-A Jacksonville to replace Bethancourt when he hit the IL due to a viral illness, is 0-for-5 to begin his big league career. (Miami reinstated Bethancourt from the injured list today and optioned Pereda back to Jacksonville.)
Overall, Marlins catchers own a staggering .068/.117/.096 slash line on the season. That obviously places them at the bottom of the league; by measure of wRC+, Miami catchers have been 138% worse than league-average (-38). Since Realmuto left the Marlins, their catchers have combined for a .223/.285/.345 batting line in 2734 plate appearances.
The Fish likely knew the catcher’s spot would be a weak point in the lineup. Fortes hit just .204/.263/.299 in 323 plate appearances last season but is a plus defender behind the dish who was credited as being five runs better than average by both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast in just 774 innings in 2023.
Bethancourt has more power (11 homers, .156 ISO last season) but hit just .225/.254/.381 thanks to a lofty 27.4% strikeout rate and paltry 3.9% walk rate. He’s a rocket-armed defender who’s thrown out one-third of attempted base thieves in his career and ranked in the 95th percentile of MLB catchers for his pop time behind the plate last season, however. True to form, he’s thrown out two of the three runners who’ve run against him this season.
Bethancourt is also likely a favorite of Miami president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, who was the Rays’ GM when Tampa Bay acquired Bethancourt from the A’s last year and who quickly acquired Bethancourt in a trade after the Guardians claimed him off waivers from the Rays.
At the time of that trade, it appeared likely to be one of multiple additions for the Fish. Bendix said shortly after being hired that it’d be “ideal” to acquire multiple catchers over the course of the offseason, recognizing that it was an area of organizational weakness. In the most literal sense possible, the Marlins accomplished that goal; Bethancourt was acquired via trade, and the aforementioned Pereda was signed as a minor league free agent. It’s hard to imagine that a cash swap and a minor league signing were the goal at the time of those comments from Bendix, however.
Marlins ownership clearly didn’t give the front office much to work with in terms of financial firepower this offseason. The team’s only major league free agent signing was a one-year, $5MM deal for Tim Anderson. The Fish made little to no effort to re-sign Jorge Soler after he opted out of the final year of his contract — and that’s according to Soler himself. Even on the eve of Opening Day, the Marlins were still trimming payroll, shipping utilityman Jon Berti to the Yankees in exchange for a pair of minor league outfielders.
The Marlins clearly believe they’ll get more offense out of Fortes and Bethancourt — a low bar to clear thus far in the season — as they’ve made no effort to augment the position thus far. Veteran Eric Haase and his modest $1MM salary passed through waivers unclaimed in late March. When the Giants designated Joey Bart for assignment, the Pirates acquired him in exchange for a relief prospect they drafted in the eighth round last year. Veterans Francisco Mejia (Brewers) and Curt Casali (Cubs) both signed minor league deals with other clubs after the season began.
Outside of Bart (a long shot), none of those names was likely to emerge as a long-term option. They’re generally short-term stopgaps at best and future DFA candidates themselves at worst. But given the total dearth of production the Marlins have received from the catching position this year, even a short-term stopgap seems like a wise target — particularly since the farm isn’t likely to produce any immediate help.
None of Miami’s top-tier prospects are catchers. Will Banfield is the most highly regarded of the bunch, ranking 16th in their system at Baseball America and 23rd at MLB.com. Banfield, however, carries a similar profile to that of Fortes — a plus defender with questionable offensive skills. He’s off to a woeful .161/.203/.304 start in Triple-A and has struck out in an eye-popping 49.2% of his 59 plate appearances. Joe Mack, whom the Marlins selected 31st overall in 2021, is another glove-first option who’s further down the ladder. He hit just .218/.295/.287 in High-A last year, though he did rip through pitching at that same level this year (.347/.467/.561) and earn a promotion to Double-A in the process.
Fortes, Bethancourt and Pereda won’t keep floundering at this severe a level, but none of that trio is likely to emerge as a solid offensive contributor either. There was inherent risk in entering the season with a pair of backstops who sport career wRC+ marks of 69 (Bethancourt) and 70 (Fortes). Things have gone worse than anyone could’ve reasonably expected, but it was always a possibility that the Fish would be rostering one of the least-productive catching tandems in the sport — if not the worst. The lack of any meaningful effort to address the deficiency is perplexing but feels like something that can and will be addressed via the trade market — whether at this year’s deadline or in the offseason.
Miami isn’t going to go out and trade prospects for an established veteran — not when their season is all but lost before the end of April — but if and when the Marlins begin selling off veterans of their own, targeting some upper-level catching help wouldn’t be a surprising outcome.
Marlins Select Jhonny Pereda
The Marlins announced they’ve selected catcher Jhonny Pereda onto the major league roster. He fills in for Christian Bethancourt, who is headed to the 10-day injured list, retroactive to April 14, as he battles a viral illness. Miami already has an opening on the 40-man roster after designating Matt Andriese for assignment over the weekend.
It’s an early birthday gift for Pereda, who turns 28 on Thursday. He reaches the big leagues for the first time after more than a decade in the minor leagues. The Venezuela native initially signed with the Cubs during the 2012-13 international amateur period. He got to Double-A in the Chicago system six years later before being traded to the Red Sox. Pereda didn’t reach the majors in Boston and became a minor league free agent after the 2021 season.
The right-handed hitter has bounced around via minor league free agency over the past few years. He spent 2022 in Triple-A with the Giants and joined the Reds last season. Pereda turned in an excellent .325/.405/.468 batting line in 68 games with Cincinnati’s Triple-A team but never got an MLB call. He inked another minor league pact — this time with the Fish — in January.
Miami assigned Pereda to Triple-A Jacksonville. He has played in eight games, collecting nine hits and five walks over his first 32 plate appearances. That brings his career slash at the top minor league level to a strong .294/.383/.404 in parts of four seasons. That was enough to make him the first one up in the event of an injury or illness to either of the catchers on Miami’s active roster.
Bethancourt and Nick Fortes had been the only backstops on the 40-man roster. With Bethancourt needing some time off, the Fish had to go to a non-roster player to back Fortes up. Pereda will fill that role for at least a week, likely getting a chance to make his MLB debut in the process. Neither Fortes nor Bethancourt has contributed much for the Marlins as they’ve limped to a 3-13 start. Miami has gotten by far the worst production in the league out of their catchers thus far: an .063/.100/.083 line over 51 trips to the plate.
Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase first reported the Marlins were selecting Pereda and placing Bethancourt on the IL.
Marlins Sign Matt Andriese To Minor League Contract
The Marlins announced their group of non-roster invitees to Spring Training. Among the external pickups in camp: right-hander Matt Andriese and catcher Jhonny Pereda. Fish on First reported that Andriese was signing with Miami in early December, but the move eluded MLBTR at the time.
Andriese, 34, has pitched in parts of seven big league seasons. The bulk of that time came with the Rays, where he logged 99 appearances between 2014-18. His time in Tampa Bay partially overlapped with that of former GM Peter Bendix, now the president of baseball operations in Miami. Andriese has bounced around since leaving Tampa Bay, logging shorter MLB stints with the D-Backs, Angels, Red Sox and Mariners.
After being outrighted by Seattle at the end of the 2021 campaign, he signed with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball. Andriese only made five appearances at Japan’s top level. He returned to the affiliated ranks last offseason on a minor league contract with the Dodgers. Andriese started 19 of 21 appearances for L.A.’s Triple-A affiliate. He struggled with the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League setting, allowing a 6.05 ERA through 93 2/3 innings. Andriese fanned a modest 18.6% of batters faced in the minors, although he showed strong control with a walk rate narrowly south of 6%.
That’s the general profile the UC-Riverside product has shown throughout his time in the big leagues. He owns a 4.63 ERA in a little more than 500 major league innings. He doesn’t have overwhelming velocity or swing-and-miss stuff but he’s generally around the strike zone. He can serve as rotation depth or in a long relief role at Triple-A Jacksonville if he doesn’t break camp.
Pereda, 28 in April, is an 11-year minor league veteran. Originally a Cubs signee, the Venezuela native was traded to the Red Sox in 2020. He has since spent time with the Giants and Reds, playing last season with Cincinnati’s Triple-A affiliate. Pereda had an impressive .325/.405/.468 batting line in 67 games with the Reds’ top farm team a year ago. He’ll look to reach the majors for the first time in Miami, where the Fish only have Christian Bethancourt and Nick Fortes as catchers on the 40-man roster.
Red Sox Acquire Jhonny Pereda From Cubs To Complete Travis Lakins Trade
The Red Sox announced Monday that they’ve acquired minor league catcher Jhonny Pereda from the Cubs as the player to be named later in the January trade that sent righty Travis Lakins from Boston to Chicago. Lakins, oddly enough, is no longer even in the Cubs organization; he was claimed off waivers by the Orioles just 10 days after the Cubs acquired him. Pereda is not on the 40-man roster, so a corresponding move isn’t necessary for the Sox.
Pereda, 24 next month, had a rough year in Double-A this past season, slashing .241/.336/.305 with just two home runs and 16 doubles in 398 plate appearances. Pereda caught a third of the runners who attempted to steal against him and won a minor league Gold Glove Award, but he also turned in poor framing metrics, per Baseball Prospectus. Baseball America ranked Pereda as the Cubs’ No. 26 prospect last offseason, before the poor 2019 showing, calling him a potential backup catcher with a bit of offensive upside due to his on-base skills (while also pointing out an utter dearth of power).
Regardless of how Pereda turns out, things unfolded in a sub-optimal manner for the Cubs, who presumably hoped that they’d be able to pass Lakins through waivers and retain him without committing a 40-man roster spot to the righty. That didn’t prove to be the case, however, as the Orioles (who hold the No. 2 waiver priority) quickly nabbed him and have continued to carry him on the 40-man roster.