The Rockies announced today that they have re-signed catcher Jacob Stallings to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2026. Stallings, a Bo McKinnis client, is reportedly guaranteed $2.5MM. He’ll make a $2MM salary next season and is guaranteed at least a $500K buyout on a $2MM mutual option for 2026. The buyout price would increase by $150K if Stallings plays in 80 games at catcher. It’d climb another $150K with Stallings’ 90th catching appearance and $200K if he appears in 100 games behind the plate. Colorado’s 40-man roster is now full.
It’s not a surprise to see the two sides reunite. The Rockies signed Stallings a year ago and he went on to have a solid season. It seems he enjoyed his time at altitude, as it was reported in September that the two sides had mutual interest in a reunion. Though he wanted to come back, he turned down a $1.5MM mutual option for 2025 in favor of a $500K buyout. He was presumably hoping to secure a guarantee larger than the $1MM difference between those two numbers and has indeed done so.
Stallings got into 82 games for the Rox in 2024, stepping to the plate 281 times. He hit nine home runs and drew walks at a solid 9.6% clip. His .263/.357/.453 batting line translated to a 114 wRC+, his best offensive showing in any season in which he took at least 20 plate appearances.
The defensive reviews were a bit more mixed. He had racked up 42 Defensive Runs Saved from 2019 to 2021, the highest of any catcher in the majors for that time frame. But that metric has soured on him, giving him a grade of -15 over the past three seasons, including a -6 grade in 2024. Outlets like Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have considered him to be an excellent blocker in recent years but not so great in terms of framing or controlling the running game.
While Stallings may not be a perfect player, perhaps he’s the right guy for the Rockies and their current circumstances. Drew Romo may be viewed as the club’s long-term solution behind the plate but he’s not quite there yet. Selected 35th overall in the 2020 draft, he is just 23 years old and is still a work in progress. He has made his major league debut but hit poorly in just 16 games.
Perhaps Romo will get a lengthier big league audition in 2025, with the 35-year-old Stallings around as a veteran mentor/backup. Or if Romo is getting more seasoning in Triple-A, a level at which he has less than 100 games of experience, then perhaps Stallings will get more big league playing time. Utility player Hunter Goodman is the third catcher on the roster and he could be a factor if Romo is down on the farm, or perhaps the Rockies could bring in another veteran.
Either way, the club should be playing the long game. They just wrapped up their sixth straight losing season, with more than 100 losses in each of the past two campaigns. There are some positive developments on the roster but they can afford to give Romo some time to get his feet wet and get accustomed to the big leagues. Since player development doesn’t always go in a straight line, it makes sense to have a vet like Stallings around to help the process or simply step in whenever Romo might be more focused on things like training, developing relationships with pitchers or any of the other facets of being a big league catcher.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported the salary terms. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the possibility to max out at $3MM, while The Associated Press reported the escalator terms.
I don’t think they would have gotten much for him, but I’m still shocked the Rox didn’t trade Stallings at the TDL. As a backup option, he was probably one of the best that should have been available (in theory)… not that the Rox ever seem to utilize the deadline to their advantage in recent years.
Catchers rarely move at the deadline.
Hardly ever.
One who was moved was Elston Howard, who the Yankees traded to the Red Sox in August 1967. How did it turn out? It’s tough to say. Howard was credited for providing leadership to the Red Sox pitching staff. However, his offensive numbers in 42 games for Boston were .147/.211/.198, with an OPS+ of 18. Overall, for the two teams, he was .178/.233/.244 (OPS+ 42) in 345 plate appearances. For this, Howard finished 17th in the AL MVP balloting. That leadership he provided must have been something else.
That Red Sox team made it to the World Series, where they lost to the Cardinals. Maybe he helped that crew of iffy starters (besides ace Jim Lonborg) make it to the finish line. That had to be the most hotly contested pennant race ever.
Vazquez was moved for Abreu.
No one wanted him. You can see by this price he signed with. They also let Diaz free and finally the Padres took him past the waiver deadline. Not easy to adjust in a pennant race.
Good thing he signed early.
I thought he was STALLINGS to do so.
Rockies continuing to do Rockies things.
Except for his time in Miami he has always been a good back up. Was a damn fin regular in Pittsburgh as well. He always seemed to get a hit when it was needed as well. Might not show it in the stats though.
One of my favorite Pirates. Toiled in the minors for a while but they finally gave him a chance and he produced.
And they promptly dumped him after his gold glove season because they didnt want to pay him a very modest arbitration salary. Also one of my favorite Pirates
Also dumped Elias Diaz once he became eligible for arbitration.
Well there is quite a bit of difference between Jacob and Elias. Jacob was coming off a great season, Elias was coming off a horrible one.
Agree but Pirates gave up on him too soon since they wanted to save money.
The Pirates traded him too soon. A Stallings/Delay catching tandem would have been worth the wait.
Too soon? He’s had a 0.4 cumulative bWAR over the past 3 years since he left PT.
You missed the point.
Still wondering how someone thought they could steal Kris Bryant’s Lamborghini and not get caught because well, it’s a Lamborghini
Maybe hoping to ship it overseas.
What took so long?
Championship move
Good low-cost move for the Rox. With Blackmon gone, there needs to be someone over 23 to provide veteran presence.
verteran presence is overrated, they need good players, not washed bums like stallings
He outproduced all their other options by leaps and bounds. Unless he goes back to his Marlins stat line.
The two sides quickly realized that nobody else wanted to be with them.
Mom says it’s 1/2 hour to get to sleep for school tomorrow.
Stallings hit very well at times. Other times,not so much. He hit a couple of walk off homers, although one didn’t count because of phantom fan interference. His defense was pretty good aside from throwing. He was relatively poor at that, but didn’t seem any worse than Diaz, Goodman, or Romo. I think is a good signing for now, but I also think the Rockies will keep him longer than they need to just like they did with Diaz and Drew Butera before him.
Fine signing but you just know Bud Black is gonna have him start 95 games when it’s obvious to everyone else that Romo should have as much playing time as possible
Rockies are the epitome of lost in space. Not sure this signals they plan to improve next season. Pretty sure 2/3 of Rockies Fans just put their heads down.
No. We are just fans of the Rockies, win or lose. We are not “fair-weather fans” that show up when the team is winning and disappear when they are losing. If you are going to be a fan, then be a fan regardless of outcome.
Well said, hi flew.
I’ll say something nice about the Rockies, I really like their team colors, including the City Connect colors. The black and white with purple is a fine combination. The design and colors on the City Connect jerseys are my favorite from MLB.
Recidivist signing of the year.