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 large 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 obtained into 68 video games at that stage, stepping to the plate 263 occasions. He struck out in 30% of these journeys, actually a excessive quantity, but additionally 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 large league catching duties. Fry didn’t actually catch within the second half resulting from 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 sooner or later 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 increased subsequent yr, until they add another person to the roster later within the winter.
Nuñez didn’t make it to the majors in 2024 however does have large league expertise, getting 347 plate appearances with the Rockies from 2019 to 2022. He was punched out 34% of the time but additionally 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 obtained robust 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 at the very least has some optimistic attributes with the power to take a stroll and body a pitch. If the Guards carry 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.