Christian Bethancourt has signed a minor league contract with the Cubs, in keeping with his transaction log on MLB.com. The journeyman catcher was launched by the Marlins final week. The Cubs can be his ninth MLB group since he made his huge league debut with the Braves in 2013.
Bethancourt did not make a lot of an impression over his first 5 MLB seasons, showing in 161 video games for the Braves and Padres between 2013-17 and slashing .222/.252/.316 with a 52 wRC+. He didn’t play within the majors from 2018-21, bouncing between the Brewers, Phillies, and Pirates organizations, with a short stopover within the KBO in the course of the 2019 marketing campaign.
At 30 years previous, Bethancourt lastly returned to the key leagues in 2022, showing in 56 video games for the Athletics and enjoying nicely sufficient to be a focus for the Rays forward of the commerce deadline. He continued to play nicely with Tampa Bay down the stretch, ending the season with a league-average 100 wRC+ and 1.8 FanGraphs WAR.
Sadly, Bethancourt didn’t discover the identical success in 2023. Whereas he made Tampa Bay’s Opening Day roster and performed 102 video games behind the dish, he completed the season with only a 74 wRC+. His defensive numbers took successful as nicely; he caught 13 of 30 would-be base stealers in 2022 however solely 13 of 57 the next yr. His pitch-framing numbers additionally declined, in keeping with metrics from each FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.
The Rays flipped Bethancourt to the Marlins over the offseason, and his offensive struggles have solely gotten worse in 2024. He slashed .159/.198/.268 over 38 video games in Miami earlier than he was designated for task in mid-June. He was launched shortly thereafter. Bethancourt will now be part of the Triple-A Iowa Cubs as he strives to get his subsequent huge league alternative on the North Facet of Chicago. The Cubs have gotten little or no manufacturing from their catchers this yr; the one crew whose catchers have a decrease OPS or wRC+ is the Marlins. Presently, Tomás Nido and Miguel Amaya are the one two backstops on Chicago’s 40-man roster. Presumably, Bethancourt is now the following catcher on the depth chart.
