The Angels signed catcher Sebastián Rivero to a minor league contract final month, as mirrored on the MLB.com transaction log. It’s unclear if he’ll be invited to main league Spring Coaching.
Rivero, 26, has two seasons of main league expertise. He performed in 34 video games for the Royals between 2021-22, hitting .167 with out a residence run over 73 journeys to the plate. Kansas Metropolis launched him after the ’22 marketing campaign. The Venezuelan-born catcher has spent the previous two seasons within the higher minors, dividing his time between the White Sox and Braves organizations. He hit .186/.239/.249 in 75 video games between Double-A and Triple-A within the Atlanta system a yr in the past. Rivero has been enjoying winter ball, the place he’s hitting .182 in 21 video games.
Whereas there’s clearly not a ton of offensive upside, Rivero provides catching depth to the higher ranges of the minors. He has began practically 400 video games and caught virtually 3500 innings in his minor league profession. Rivero has reduce down round 1 / 4 of tried basestealers in every of the final two seasons.
Logan O’Hoppe and Travis d’Arnaud will divide the catching duties at Angel Stadium. Latest commerce pickup Chuckie Robinson initiatives as the highest depth possibility as the one different catcher on the 40-man roster. They hadn’t had any non-roster catchers with main league expertise earlier than signing Rivero, who might again Robinson up at Triple-A Salt Lake.