The Pirates announced Thursday morning that they’ve signed catcher Tony Wolters to a minor league contract. The longtime Rockies backstop and VC Sports Group client will be in camp as a non-roster invitee this spring. His deal comes with a $1.4MM salary if he makes the Pirates, Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic tweets.
Wolters, 28, has been the primary catcher in Colorado for the past five seasons due entirely to his glovework. He’s a career .238/.323/.319 hitter in 1232 plate appearances — a line that checks in at 43 percent below league-average (57 wRC+) when weighting for his hitter-friendly home park. Wolters does have a career 9.9 percent walk rate, although that’s at least partially a function of the fact that 75 percent of his plate appearances have come when batting eighth ahead of the pitcher.
Defensively, Wolters’ track record is quite strong. His career 31 percent caught-stealing rate is above the league average, and he regularly grades out as an above-average to excellent pitch framer. His defensive grades all took a collective step back in 2020, but it’d be a bit rash to judge him harshly on 283 innings in a pandemic-shortened season when his previous 2400 innings behind the dish all suggest him to be capable of top-notch glovework.
Notably, the Rockies thought enough of Wolters’ glove and athleticism to also give him brief looks at second base, shortstop, third base and in left field. If the Pirates also believe that Wolters, who was drafted by the Indians as a shortstop back in 2010, can move around the diamond in that capacity, then he could potentially emerge as a versatile super-utility piece off the bench. Jacob Stallings, a strong defender in his own right, seems likely to get the bulk of the work behind the dish to begin the 2021 season, however.
kinda suprised he couldn’t get a MLB deal
He’s not very good
His career wRC+ in over 1,200 PA is 57
you do know he’s a catcher, right?
still. 41 OPS+ last year
Even the bar for catcher isn’t that low.
Yes
i mean there are 60 plus on MLB rosters. you cant tell me he’s worse then #60
It’s not that he’s worse than all 60 plus, it’s more you know what you’re gonna get with him and that’s just not good. He’s getting expensive for being a bad player, so why not bring up a young guy that can play at the same lvl at league min that might have more upside. Idk. That’s my reasoning for it…
Well if he makes the roster out of camp….he still won’t be on a major league team.
Ouch. Well said.
Pirate fans suffer enough having Nutting as an owner. Go easy on us the next few years while we rebuild and wait for a salary cap/floor.
This is a good pickup, but I wonder as a result if/when Stallings is on the way out..
He stalled out.
doubt it, the pirates time line the team would still have him locked up for a couple years..
That said, his trade value would be very high long term price controlled that has hit pretty well in two back to back short sample seasons and is a pretty solid back stop.
I mean he’s no Mike Trout… but anyone with a need at a catcher would have to pay pretty big.
If he’s gone the pirates now have stop gaps but nothing we’d expect much from.
I think of all the positions to deal, Stallings would be at the bottom of the list. He’s cheap and his plus defensive ability is critical in developing the pitchers that will be coming up in the near future. I’m good with Stallings/Wolters as the catchers of this team at this stage.
Wolters is a defensive pick up
Tony Wolters: “It’s great. They have uniforms and everything.”
Nutting: “Your uniform fee will be deducted in equal parts over your first 4 paychecks.”
Get a life forwhomthebelltrolled
Thank you.
I appreciate you taking time out of your busy day of being triggered by innocuous jokes about an underachieving sports team to offer life advice to me.
You mean you have a life???
Underachieving? That’s a strange word to use, when they regularly are in the bottom 5 in payroll every year. I have no problem saying they stink when they stink, believe me. But when they regularly have way less money than every other team to spend on players, almost every year, wth you expect.
denial is a stage of grief
Wanted him to be the backup over Tomas nido
Useful, in that he can catch effectively AND play 2B….but he’s not very good with the stick. Might be a decent 26th guy.
Nah, 29th guy
Def surprised Preller didn’t jump on him for MiLB deal. Bring the boy home!
Good fit. Tony Wolter’s looks like a Pirate. Like he literally looks like a pirate.
Plus he sucks. He’ll fit right in.
I wonder who will rep them at the All Star Game, should there be one.
Polanco or some reliever who has a decent first half.
Mitch Keller is my bet. I think a break out is coming this year. Only for him to regress next year, get traded, and turn into a Cy Young winner.
I’ll say one of Hayes, Moran, Reynolds, or Rodriguez
My bet would be Hayes but..
a resurgence of Frasier (if here), Newman or Reynolds along with Stallings might make it a bit more interesting.
Our pitching coach is no longer Ray Separate, aka “Mr. Pitch to Contact no matter if you have swing and miss stuff because I only know how to improve AAAA pitchers and old guys at the end of their careers”. So I’m hoping the depressing mismanagement of young pitching talent ends.
The Pirates’ offseason work is now complete.
Another cheap move by the Pirates.
I think he is the best “backup” or replacement should stallings falters or traded. He may not hit worth a lick, but he can be a nice defensive addition. Just wonder if the pitchers will be comfortable with his pitch calling.
at least this guy has major league experience. maybe Pirates catchers will have more than 10 HR this year!
and he’s an improvement over Luke Maile, who somehow got another MLB contract.
@parts unknown i wouldn’t count on that
Wolters is a solid backup. If nothing else the Pirates will have very good defense behind the plate
He’s actually not a very good defender either. He does throw quite well, and hustles like a mad man (he’s a prototypical middle infielder playing catcher, after all), but beyond that it’s pretty mediocre. Blocks poorly, in part because he’s really small for the position, doesn’t call a good game, and his framing bounces around and comes out to below average.
Great, so Pirates will start him and he will bat cleanup in the lineup. MLB’s lack of min and max cap is making the competitive balance very difficult. Just retract to 16 Teams make all the remaining Teams worth atleast 15 Billion with only 4 Teams making playoffs and see how that works.
Pirates have a nice stockpile of back up catchers. Will be a heated battle to make roster.
Now after that signing we can start printing up the Pirates 2021 Playoff Tickets!