10:29am: Hundley would earn a $1.25MM base salary in the Majors, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.
9:02am: The Athletics announced Monday morning that they’ve signed veteran catcher Nick Hundley to a minor league contract and invited him to Major League Spring Training, where he’ll compete for a roster spot. Hundley is a client of Athletes First.
While much of Oakland’s focus this winter has been on the pitching staff, catching help is still a clear area of need for the A’s. Top prospect Sean Murphy may not be far from MLB readiness after a strong showing in Double-A in 2018, but the only two catchers on the 40-man roster at the moment are Josh Phegley and Chris Herrmann. Phegley hit just .204/.255/.344 last season, and while Herrmann was fairly productive in a small sample of work, he’s a career .205/.282/.351 hitter in the Majors.
Suffice it to say, Hundley has a very legitimate chance to crack the Opening Day roster with the A’s — perhaps with expectations for a decent workload if there’s no other catching addition made. The 35-year-old hit .241/.298/.408 with 10 homers in 305 plate appearances across the bay for the Giants in 2018 and posted a combined .243/.285/.413 slash with San Francisco in the two seasons he spent there. Clearly, Hundley comes with some on-base deficiencies, but he has a bit of pop in his bat and will bring plenty of experience to an Oakland staff consisting of numerous young arms.
Defensively speaking, Hundley is more of a mixed bag. His framing work last year graded out near the bottom of the league, but he was roughly average a year prior. Similarly, Hundley’s caught-stealing rate dipped to a below-average 21 percent in 2018, but he was a bit above the league mean at 29 percent in 2017. He’s generally drawn average or better marks in terms of blocking pitches in the dirt.
He’s a good guy. Provides decent depth.
Why does this guy need to sign a minor league deal?
This one is sort of easy to see. At best he’s a “offensive minded” backup C, which isn’t saying much. In a league where backups tend to be more defensively inclined, because you can put more competent hitters on the bench he leaves a lot to be desired defensively. Offensively he doesn’t get on base or hit for power. Half the league is tanking, so these somewhat decent players are left in the cold. He’s an ok backup, but teams probably value a cheaper version that excels in an area, even if it leads to a gaping black hole in the lineup.
In the most important Stat of 2 as seen by two eyes,he had more of a down year last year offensively and his age spelled doom but he played in a tough Ballpark to hit with power,he is a good leader with some fire ie: got in Puigs face last year.Hundley also had some clutch hits but had a real bad throwing the ball year
Yes, I don’t know who could ever find a backup catcher that would show that “Fire.” Wow he uttered some things like get back in the box, and stood up. Then he waited, and played the I don’t really want any part of this game so I’m going to let my teammates hold me back. Give me a break! That was the definition of a pointless bad get off my lawn baseball skirmish. Shockingly though it involved Puig and the Giants. Real shocker I know. The point is, your eye test will tell you he’s not a great defensive C and offensively he’s just ok. Which means, he’s not an elite hitter who teams might be inclined to live with behind the plate, and defensively he has his flaws. Which leads us to why he has a milb deal.
A little huffy and la biased aren’t ya,you added a lot things I didn’t say better stay off the Meds,you obviously have problems this site can’t fix
Because that is what the market commanded
I guess there’s just no too many teams that need catching. He probably would be ranked behind Grandal, Maldonado, Ramos, Lucroy, Martin, Gomes, and maybe Mesoraco this year for guys available. Add in teams took themselves out of the catching market by acquiring controllable guys like Zunino and Narvaez and there just isn’t much more of a market.
Gee, you think minor-contracted Hundley is ranked behind Grandal etc? Pretty bold assessment there
I did go out on quite a limb
This is a great signing. It is a low cost/serviceable reward pickup. Hundley is capable of playing 2 of every 3 games and allows you to platoon Phegley/Hermann depending on who breaks camp.
It’s not a great signing. It’s an okay signing at this point. Now, should he exceed all expectations, and post above average hitting stats, while being decent behind the plate, then I’ll admit it was great. But that is the only way a minor league contract can turn into a great signing.
really curious if Sean Murphy has a shot to start on the A’s roster this year.
Long shot to make the team out of spring training. He was hurt last year but hit well at AA. He still needs some time in AAA to get his bat up to speed. Defensively he is ready but his bat hs taken time to learn each league.
Probably not, but he’ll get called up at some point during the season.
Nick Hundley > Cameron Rupp + Rene Rivera. Not sure why the Giants didnt keep him around, especially on a minor league deal.
Think Zaida believes Garcia deserves a shot, and Cameron and Rene will provide depth in AAA if they end up having to send Harcia back down.Doubt Nick would stay around/ or have an opt-out if he didn’t make the club.
Nick Hundley > Cameron Rupp + Rene Rivera how? With the bat? Yeah, but not with the glove, and teams prefer defensive-minded catchers as back-ups.
Surprised Friedman didn’t go dumpster diving after Hundley because catcher clearly is not a position of weakness.
A’s are picking up nice minor league signings for depth.
Solid signing.
He probably looked across the bay and wondered what it would be like to play in a beautiful ball park, filled with real fans and a team who’s a guarantee to win the AL West. Can’t blame him for being jealous of an opportunity to play in a city of greatness.
Maybe he was wondering what it was like playing with sewage up to his ankles in front of 17,000 a game
Maybe he was wondering what its like playing for a franchise who has won 9 world series
2013 sewage dump champions
2016 sewage dump champions
If you get it in 2019 it will be your first three-peat since before compact discs were invented.
17,000? When I lived in Sacramento the AAA team routinely out drew the A’s.
Sorry you had to live in Sacramento
OaklandFan22 Ha ha. It was better than where I grew up, and much safer than Oakland., but I still had to upvote that comment.
Making a smug comment about an issue that has been resolved for several years now. Nice.
So it’s a beautiful park because they don’t have sewage back flows into the clubhouse anymore?
Beautiful ballpark eh?
If you squint your eyes and tilt your head you can kind of see the hidden beauty in that dump.
It’s actually not as bad as people make it, it’s just old. Views are great and food is too. Now there won’t be an NFL team tearing up the diamond anymore. 2023 they move anyway. Tampa is way way worse.
ROFL
The guy walks up to Collective Soul’s “Shine.” Who does that? Dude better be the weakest end of a 3-catcher rotation. If I have to hear that song a few hundred times this year, I’m going to go nuts.
This guy deserved a major league deal he’s the best catcher on the roster
Best of luck to Hundley. Sorry that he isn’t returning to the Giants.
The A’s got a very reliable catcher who will work well with their pitchers.
Hey you have Stephen Vogt now, a catcher who is 100x better