The Tigers are re-signing veteran catcher Tomas Nido on a minor league contract, as first reported by Mike Mayer of Metsmerized. Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reports that Nido would receive a $1.5MM base salary if he makes the big league roster. The ACES client will be a non-roster invitee in major league camp this spring.
Nido, 31 in April, began the 2024 season with the Mets before being cut loose and going on to sign free agent deals with both the Cubs and Tigers — though he only played in three Triple-A games with Detroit after signing in mid-September.
A premium defensive catcher with a light bat, Nido is a career .210/.245/.309 hitter (53 wRC+) in 323 games and 945 trips to the plate. He’s punched out in 26% of his career plate appearances and has a 4.1% walk rate. Despite the lack of punch, he’s gotten considerable MLB run due to elite framing grades and plus marks for both his blocking and throwing. Nido has nabbed 22% of runners who’ve attempted to steal against him in his career, including a 22.7% mark in 359 frames last season when the league-average was just 20.3%.
The Tigers don’t have a need for catching help on the big league roster at this juncture. Jake Rogers will reprise his role as the starter there. He hit just .197/.255/.352 in 2024 but was a Gold Glove finalist and is only a year removed from popping 21 homers and delivering roughly league-average rate stats in the batter’s box.
Former second-round pick Dillon Dingler is the favorite to serve as Rogers’ backup. He hit only .167/.195/.310 with Detroit, but that came in a tiny sample of 87 plate appearances. Dingler was worlds better in Triple-A Toledo, where he absolutely raked at a .308/.379/.559 pace (139 wRC+) and belted 17 homers in 301 trips to the plate. He draws better-than-average framing and blocking grades, and Dingler thwarted a gaudy 38% of stolen base attempts against him in Toledo as well.
My boy Nido. Wish you the best. Nice catcher to have on a minor league deal for depth.
That’ll lure in Bregman for sure
Finally. The signing we’ve all been holding our breath for.
Dingler trade incoming
Nope. Rogers starts 100 games, Dingler starts 62 games. If one gets injured, the workload on the other goes up and you call up reinforcements like possibly Nido.
meesa think the sarcasm radar not turned on for yousa
Dingler is most likely our primary catcher going into the 2027 season and maybe even going into 2026. All signs point to Skubal not being extended by the Tigers at this point, and I’m almost 100% expecting Rogers to be packaged in a trade with him.
Good guy. Played youth baseball with Lindor in PR.
Nice C depth signing here.
Best attribute is working with pitchers and managing a staff. Worst attribute is pretty much everything else.
Good now go sign Bregman already!