The Rockies announced today that they have selected the contract of catcher Jorge Alfaro. Fellow backstop Brian Serven was optioned in a corresponding move. In order to open a spot for Alfaro on the 40-man, right-hander Blair Calvo was designated for assignment.
Alfaro, 30, makes it back to the big leagues for the first time this year. He has appeared in each of the past seven major league seasons but had to settle for a minor league deal with the Red Sox this winter. He was crushing for their Triple-A team, hitting .320/.366/.520 through 191 plate appearances, but the Sox never called him up. Alfaro triggered an opt-out in his contract and the club released him rather than giving him a roster spot.
He then signed another minor league deal, landing with the Rockies just five days ago. He played three games for their Triple-A club and hit .357/.357/.571 in that brief sample before getting called up. That kind of production would be welcome on any club, but it’s no guarantee Alfaro can provide it. He has often hit well in the minors, which has led to many big league opportunities over the years, as the Phillies, Marlins, Padres and now Rockies have all had him on their respective rosters at various points. But in 478 career games in the majors, he’s hit just .256/.305/.396 for a wRC+ of 89.
Alfaro has generally been considered a bat-first catcher and has tallied a cumulative -17 Defensive Runs Saved thus far in his career. Teams could surely tolerate a bit of that if Alfaro were producing with the bat, but he’s hasn’t been able to manage that quite yet.
Despite his tepid results in the big leagues thus far, it’s not surprising that the Rockies are willing to give him a shot. He’s been hitting very well in the minors this year and is a former top 100 prospect. They already have a couple of catchers on the roster in Elias Díaz and Austin Wynns but have been going with a three-catcher setup of late. Serven was recalled a couple of days ago as Díaz was dealing with a minor injury. Díaz sat out Sunday’s game but returned to the lineup for the next three contests.
Díaz is having a solid season, hitting .295/.351/.457 for a 105 wRC+ and is unlikely to be usurped as long as he stays healthy. Perhaps Alfaro will factor into the designated hitter mix, where the club doesn’t really have an everyday option now that Charlie Blackmon is on the injured list. Since he’s been gone, Díaz, Randal Grichuk and Jurickson Profar have each been given starts as the DH. If both Díaz and Alfaro were in the lineup, they would still have Wynns on hand as a safety net in the event of an injury.
The club will surely be hoping that Alfaro can give a boost to their lineup but he could also wind up as a summer trade chip if this is the year he finally puts it together in the majors. The Rockies have one of the worst records in the National League at 29-41 and could find themselves in position to sell. Since Alfaro is scheduled for free agency again this winter, he would be a logical candidate for such a move.
In order to take a shot on Alfaro, the Rockies are risking losing Calvo. Now 27 years old, he was drafted by the club in the 23rd round in 2019. Last year, he tossed 35 relief innings in Double-A with a 3.09 ERA, 32.2% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate and 57.6% ground ball rate. The club added him to the roster in November to prevent him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.
Unfortunately, his results haven’t been as strong this year, though he did throw one scoreless inning in his major league debut. The rest of the year has been spent at Triple-A, where he has a 7.43 ERA through 23 innings. There’s probably a bit of bad luck in there, as he has a .413 batting average on balls in play and 55.3% strand rate. His peripherals have gone in the wrong direction compared to last year, though not by too much, as he’s struck out 28.3% of opponents while walking 8.8% and getting grounders on 47.6% of balls in play.
Though his 5.02 FIP is much nicer than this ERA, he’s nonetheless lost his roster spot. The Rockies will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. In the event that he clears, he would not have the right to elect free agency since he has neither a previous career outright nor three years of service time.
I’m glad he’s getting another shot.
I’m glad nvn nivhiuhiuq&774 is replacing ncdbcubviqiuq%^
30, 40 & 50 years ago I was aware of almost every player in baseball
Now you need an international map & an interpreter to figure it out.
Progress sucks, over and out…
Is this really a complaint that baseball is a more global game than it used to be?
Sorry you’ve got to break out an “international map” (to barely — barely — leave North America) to find a guy from Colombia taking the roster spot of guys from California and Florida. Must be tough.
But yeah, it’s really terrible to see the talent that Ohtani and other international players being to MLB. /s
Isn’t it interesting JamesW26, that I can’t reply to you on this site., so I’ll reply to myself.. I’ve loved this game since the first game I watched in 1956. I Travelled to the real Yankee stadium, saw all the players that I grew up with, lived & died with their success. You are a new age that I don’t like or understand. I have no apologies for the game I grew up with or the players I loved.
You sound awful racist. Too bad racism won’t be gone when your generation is gone. Sad.
Curly, these are the role players that make up teams. They aren’t stars and they may never be much of anything. You can disregard them. If they play more regularly, then you can focus on their names and who they are. Every era has these types of players.
Puke, don’t you dare patronize me
Again, Ham Fighter doesn’t have the courage to let another poster disagree..
You are a keyboard coward
However you call somebody a scumbag? You don’t even know what one is…take a look down fool
Do you wonder why so many people have muted you, Curly?
Stupid = stupid, welcome aboard Lloyd
I muted him too. Guy claims to be an older adult but acts like a child. Probably drunk, senile, or both. Definitely ignorant.
Heh.
This is America, How dare you have an unpopular opinion Curly!! The sheer audacity of you for having your own personal set of Beliefs!!
its just the man’s name. everyone has one, you, your son, brothers, daughters, coworkers. if theirs is different than what you are used to and you dont like that, and decide to take that opinion public, be prepared to accept negative backlash.
America: where everyone is entitled to their opinion, and everyone is entitled to call out people for being garbage human beings. Maybe it’s “unpopular” because he’s racist. Sounds like you are, too. Both of you are extremely poor examples of human beings, much less Americans. You should be ashamed.
I didn’t take it as being racist maybe out of touch but not racist. You don’t know me yet you call me a poor example of a human being just because I made a joke and a point about his right to have an unpopular opinion. Since you are already judging me I might as well tell you about myself. I was born in Missouri in 1985 to a father who came to this country from Argentina in 1976. He spoke very little English when he immigrated to the US and still has trouble with some phrases but otherwise is fluent and speaks English very well. Spanish was his first language and Portuguese was his second. I’m very proud of my heritage and my father. But sure call me racist garbage human being. Now you can judge me all you want since you know more about me.
Wah I can’t watch my 25 man all white baseball teams like the 1950’s. There are players from all over the world on MLB teams deal with it you scumbag
You should be muted by everyone except, maybe, your bed sheet wearing chickens!
Curly, all you have to do is scan the box scores every day. Then you’ll know who everyone is and how they’re doing. Of course this is more time consuming today than in 1956, given that there are 30 teams today and there were only 16 back then.
lol wut?
I don’t understand DFAing Calvo. He got 1 day on the team and pitched a scoreless inning. That alone should at least buy him another appearance. But I guess it is much better to put someone like Pierce Johnson out there to give up a run every game instead. I just hate seeing guys not get a deserved chance because they aren’t on some Baseball America prospect list.
They’ll very likely keep him. If he passes through waivers he cannot reject an assignment back to AAA, and I doubt anyone out there is willing to give a 40 man roster spot to a guy who’s got a 7 ERA in AAA.
Yeah likely, but honestly his ERA in Albuquerque is still one of the better ERAs on the team. The PCL is an absolute joke for pitchers.
It’s not that I mind losing the guy because he probably won’t ever amount to much. I just don’t like seeing a team like the Rockies give up on a possible bullpen guy without really even giving him a fighting chance. Why add him to the 40 man roster at all if you aren’t going to see what he can do? The Rox have done it in the past with Sam Moll, Jayson Aquino, and a couple of others whose names escape me at the moment. It is just a waste of a valuable roster spot for 6 months.
You realize that you don’t have to guess about things like that, right? You can just look it up.
baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=079a87…
Speaking of Johnson. Maybe a change of scenery guy? Would Rockies move him? He’s not too expensive. Os need a second set up man to compliment Cano. Givens looks passed his prime, Tate injury seems long term and so far no one in house has stepped up. Hmmm.
No I doubt it. The Rockies are getting too much local press love because Johnson is a local Colorado guy.
Alfaro might hit a HR 500 ft in Coors.
I know you’re just being snarky, but Coors only adds about 10 feet onto fly balls.
According to the American Statistical Association, because Coors Field in Denver is one mile above sea level, a baseball hit there will travel about 10% farther than one hit with the same force and angle at sea level. 10% is at least 36 ft further.
Websoulsurfer, is that factoring in the humidor still? Thanks in advance!
And he might more like play poor defense and hit around 170avg
LFGD. the Fans will love him. He should Crush Ball in the Altitude. He runs out all plays. Good Luck Georgie!!!
Still SMH at why the Sox let him go
Unfortunate for calvo! However, not as unfortunate as being a dude name “Blair”.
Blair is 27 years old and had an ERA of 7.43 in AAA. He became a professional baseball player at the age of 23, which is late compared to the vast majority. It was nice that he got an inning in the MLB. It could well be the only inning he ever gets. It reminds me of a scene from Field of Dreams. Anyway, Blair was an emergency call up with the intention of an immediate DFA. It happens almost everyday now the way rosters are constructed (and the 13 pitcher limit on MLB rosters).
True, you get free insurance coverage for life if you only spend one day in an MLB roster.
Another perk! That is a huge benefit!
Definitely, back when I was a low life and when I was drinking whiskey HEAVILY and using oxymorphone and Morphine Sulfate every day. I had a mini stroke because of my Potassium levels being insanely low. (I didn’t even know it could happen until it did!) I wasn’t really eating at that time and barely drinking anything except whiskey so no wonder my body hated me haha. Not many people have a stroke at 27 years old! Anyway, I didn’t have health insurance at the time because the only jobs I could hold down at the time were short term gigs doing painting run down properties (you know, because of the Alcoholism and the drug use.) And I’m still paying back the cost of the ambulance ride and 4 day hospital stint to this day. Good news is that I’ve been clean for a long time and I work as a substance abuse counselor and love my job. The insurance they provide is great. But yeah, I’ll never forget the tole my actions and lack of insurance caused. Having your insurance covered for life is huge IMO!
Nice to see the BABIP god Jorge Alfaro get another chance
Profar and Alfaro together again