The Cubs made a change at their backup catcher spot today, selecting P.J. Higgins from Triple-A and designating veteran Tony Wolters for assignment, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com (via Twitter).
Higgins joined the Cubs as a 12th-round pick in 2015, and he hasn’t yet played in the majors. The 28-year-old has batted .273/.359/.370 with 21 home runs in 2,014 minor league plate appearances. He’ll take over as the Cubs’ backup catcher behind Willson Contreras.
Wolters, 28, signed a minor league contract with the Cubs in March. The former Rockie opened this season with a .125/.276/.125 line in 30 trips to the plate before the Cubs designated him. He’s a lifetime .236/.322/.315 batter with seven HRs in 1,262 PA in the bigs.
Excellent move. All set for the post season now. Cubs have been doing these sneaky good moves this year and impressing the baseball world. Good luck in the playoffs Cubby fanatics.
Yet another troll to mute. Thanks for the best option ever, MLBTR. You have made the site much more easy to read.
Sneaky good comment bro.
alright, who’s the better sleep-themed catcher, PJ Higgins or Andrew Knapp?
Gotta give it to Knapp because he’s a more unique case, not to mention that he covers all the requirements. No offence to Higgins, but there’s bound to plenty of dreamers grinding in the minors with the same first name.
PJ by the length of a couch pillow.
they may both have to accept a pillow contract next year
I wouldn’t lose sleep over this… I call this a tie.
How is Higgins a sleep-themed name?
PJ, as in PJs, lol
i think Higgins is a great move, get home some experience and Wolters isn’t too good offensively
Yep. And he can play all around the infield. Particularly 1B if Rizzo’s back issues ever puts him on IL. Bryant playing 1B isn’t the best of back up plans.
Sorry, but I’ll take KB backing up 1B over PJ Higgins.
Wonder if they miss caratini already
Caratini is missed. no doubt. He was a good backup catcher.
Maybe they can trade Zach Davies and get Caratini back lol
This was a reasonable move. Why in the world would they part with Caratini who was a much better framer than Wilson…??
Caratini is Yu’s personal catcher, the trade was basically a package deal
Best of luck to Higgins. Gotta feel good to finally crack the majors, even if it’s just as a backup. Hope he can make the best of it.
Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
I’ve always had a weird time differentiating between Tony Wolters and Zach Walters (the dude who super oddly hit 10 HR and 17 RBI in 2014) because they were both in the Cleveland org in 2014 with super similar names, so I always end up thinking Tony has more pop than he does. But I didn’t think it was career-.315-slug-bad.