It's been a busy offseason for catchers in free agency. The big signing was Yasmani Grandal agreeing to a four year/$73 million deal to join the Chicago White Sox.
There have been a flurry of other signings as well. Those include Yan Gomes re-signing with the Washington Nationals (two years/$10 million), Tyler Flowers re-signing with the Atlanta Braves (one year/$4 million), Travis d’Arnaud signing with the Braves (two years/$16 million), Stephen Vogt signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks (one year/$3 million), and Dustin Garneau signing with the Houston Astros (one year/$650,000).
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t still catchers left on the free agent market that can make an impact in 2020. Here are five that could find themselves in a large role if they sign with the right team.
(List of free agent catchers were found on Spotrac. Other free agent catchers of note include Francisco Cervelli, Russell Martin, Martin Maldonado, and Jonathan Lucroy.)
Alex Avila
Look past the measly .207 batting average, and you’ll notice that 2019 wasn’t that bad an offensive season for Avila. Turning 33 on January 29, he walked 36 times in 201 plate appearances (giving him a .353 on-base percentage) and had 17 extra-base hits (nine homers and eight doubles) in 164 at-bats.
Now that the #Dbacks have announced the signing of veteran backup catcher Stephen Vogt to a one-year contract, classy Alex Avila would be natural choice to return to the #Tigers.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) November 27, 2019
Welington Castillo
While he was traded to the Rangers after the season ended, Texas declined Castillo’s option, making him a free agent. The 32-year-old had a subpar offensive season in 2019 (although he did hit 12 homers in 230 at-bats), but teams may look at his previous output, including 53 home runs from 2015-17.
Rangers have officially declined their options on C Welington Castillo, rhp Shawn Kelley and rhp Nate Jones. They also lost RHP Phillips Valdez on a waiver claim to the Mariners
— TR Sullivan (@Sullivan_Ranger) November 1, 2019