The Yankees signed catcher Ronaldo Hernández to a minor league contract, per a team announcement. He’ll be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee.
Hernández, 27, was once a highly-regarded prospect. The Colombian-born backstop ranked among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects entering the 2019 season. He slotted among the top 10 farmhands in the Tampa Bay system through 2020. The Rays dealt him to the Red Sox during the 2020-21 offseason in what turned out to be a lopsided trade that landed Jeffrey Springs. While Springs broke out as a productive starter with the Rays, Hernández stalled out in the upper levels of the Sox’s system.
The Sox called Hernández up for a pair of brief stays on the MLB roster in 2022. He didn’t make it into a game and was outrighted off the 40-man during the ensuing winter. Hernández remained in the Boston system until last offseason, when he joined the Diamondbacks on a minor league deal. He hit 11 homers with a strong .311/.357/.507 showing over 63 games for their Triple-A club in Reno but didn’t get a major league call.
Austin Wells will get the bulk of the playing time behind the dish in the Bronx. New York traded Jose Trevino to Cincinnati for reliever Fernando Cruz and dealt depth catcher Carlos Narváez to the Red Sox in a minor trade in December. Aside from Wells, J.C. Escarra and Jesus Rodriguez are the only catchers on the 40-man roster.
The 22-year-old Rodriguez hasn’t played above Double-A and won’t be in consideration for the Opening Day roster. Escarra, who turns 30 in April, had a solid season in the upper minors last year. He probably has the leg up on the backup catcher job going into camp, but he has yet to play in the majors. Alex Jackson, acquired from Cincinnati in the Trevino trade, joins Hernández as a non-roster invitee to Spring Training.
Boss
As a Rays fan, I hope Alex Jackson gets every opportunity for 200+ ABs as the NYY’s backup catcher.
That says a mouthful there Sadaharu. The guy just can’t hit.
I hope he gets ALL of the at-bats. It will be nice to see Jackson hit .150 for someone other than the Rays, and would be the best scenario if he were doing it for the Yankee$!
Wow didn’t know Ronaldo plays baseball lol jk
everyone keeps forgetting Ben Rice is a catcher too
It’s so bizarre. He was primarily a catcher his entire minor league career. He only played 1B because both LeMahieu and Rizzo were hurt and they has no legit 1B prospect ready to go. I guess it’s to his credit he looked decent enough at 1B that people think it’s his actual position. I’ve heard some doubts about his ability behind the plate, but the same was said about Wells and he’s turned out to be quite good defensively.
he was also stuck behind Higgy, Trevino, Rortvedt & Wells in 2023 and they wanted to find a place to get his bat into the majors – it wasn’t until last year that he caught more minor league games than played at first base and it was only by 2 games (33 to 31)
Yeah I’ve said from the beginning he’s our backup C/1b. It’s why I haven’t been too worried about getting a backup catcher this offseason. Still between Jackson and Ronaldo you got two former high picks to look at so not the worst thing to stash at least one away at AAA.
yes, I agree… my comment was towards whoever wrote this (and other) articles and the fans complaining about getting rid of Carlos Narváez
Yeah, the lamenting over Carlos Narvarez is a tad much. That’s a whatever move for me.
I just don’t think Rice will get enough ABs as a backup 1b/C. Would rather have him in AAA regular ABs. I think he can be a 30-40 home guy with a. 360 OBP
I just don’t see Rice being trapped on the bench as the backup catcher while Escarra (or whomever) plays regularly in AAA. Unless they carry 12 pitchers there’s only 4 bench spots. His opportunities will come with Goldy/Stanton health or cutting ties with DJ or Peraza by the end of ST.
it’s not really a traditional backup catcher “trapped on the bench” like Kelly Stinnett or Chris Turner when we had Jorge Posada – Austin Wells is not going to be catching 150 games a year – whoever the OTHER catcher is will get in a lot of games – doubleheaders in Tampa when the Rays get rained out against us at Steinbrenner Field, day games after night games, and probably become a “personal catcher” to Cole or one of the other starters and still spell Goldschmidt/Stanton at 1B/DH
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure Rice is going to be all that. He’s not a guy I’m pegging for the future of 1b at all.
I agree… and unless we get Vlad or Murakami (who we could also put at 3B), Bellinger will probably be at 1B in 2026 after Goldschmidt leaves – Rice is definitely at a fork in the road these next two years – he’ll be 26 before the season starts and it feels like we’ve had him forever but we still have 2 option years remaining and has already proven he can mash at every level (1.088 OPS in AAA, .974 OPS in AA, 1.082 OPS in High A, .812 OPS in Low A) if we get first-half Rice (.809 OPS) instead of second-half Rice (.402 OPS) we’ll be fine.
Rice’s minor league 162 game average is 37 HR, 117 RBI, .282/.399/.536, .935 OPS which is much better than Jasson Dominguez (22 HR, 87 RBI, .274/.373/.444 .816 OPS) has
Think Ben Rice has forgotten he’s a catcher.
He showed up to camp with the rest of the catchers and pitchers