The Guardians introduced they’ve re-signed catcher Dom Nuñez to a minor league deal. The ALIGND Sports activities Company additionally receives an invitation to huge league spring coaching with the Guards, simply as he did final offseason.
Nuñez, 30 in January, spent the 2024 season with Triple-A Columbus. He acquired into 68 video games at that degree, stepping to the plate 263 occasions. He struck out in 30% of these journeys, definitely a excessive quantity, but in addition drew walks at a hefty 16% clip. That resulted in a .202/.330/.339 batting line and 81 wRC+.
The Guards by no means wanted to name Nuñez as much as the majors, utilizing Bo Naylor, Austin Hedges and David Fry to deal with the massive league catching duties. Fry didn’t actually catch within the second half on account of elbow issues and that may carry over into subsequent yr. He had a hybrid/inside brace and tendon reconstruction surgical procedure in November, which is predicted to have a 12-month restoration timetable. He’ll have the ability to function the designated hitter in some unspecified time in the future subsequent yr however received’t be a part of the catching plans.
That successfully leaves Naylor and Hedges as the 2 backstops on Cleveland’s roster, so the chances of needing to make use of a depth possibility will maybe be greater subsequent yr, except they add another person to the roster later within the winter.
Nuñez didn’t make it to the majors in 2024 however does have huge league expertise, getting 347 plate appearances with the Rockies from 2019 to 2022. He was punched out 34% of the time but in addition earned free passes at a 12.4% clip. Not like his 2024 season in Triple-A, the walks weren’t sufficient to bolster his general numbers to respectable ranges, so he at present has a profession batting line of .180/.280/.373 within the majors for a 58 wRC+. His framing acquired sturdy grades from FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus and Statcast throughout his transient main league work in Colorado.
It’s not an amazing profile, however for a non-roster catcher, he a minimum of has some constructive attributes with the flexibility to take a stroll and body a pitch. If the Guards convey him as much as the majors at any level subsequent yr, he hasn’t but certified for arbitration and nonetheless has an possibility yr, which means he’ll be low cost and supply roster flexibility.
