Saltalamacchia seeks to revive bat in Arizona desert

Jarrod Saltalamacchia didn’t need to wait too long to find a potential new home. The Arizona Diamondbacks have signed the veteran catcher to a minor league pact:

The Marlins designated Saltalamacchia for assignment on April 27 and released him on Tuesday after failing to work out a trade. He had been mired in an ice-cold start to the season, going 2-for-29 with 12 strikeouts. Rookie J.T. Realmuto has handled primary catching duties for the Fish and done a fair job over the first few weeks. In 19 games the 24-year-old is hitting .250, and six of his 16 hits have gone for extra bases (four doubles, two triples). Last year at Double-A Jacksonville he hit .299 with eight homers and 62 RBI. He played just three games at Triple-A New Orleans this season (.385 in 13 ABs) before receiving a big league call-up. It’s hard to blame Miami for preferring to further evaluate 24-year-old Realmuto rather than continue giving at-bats to the floundering Saltalamacchia.

A Florida native, Salty was an immediate and substantial disappointment to the Marlins after inking a three-year, $21 million deal with them in December 2013. During his first season in Miami he posted a paltry .220/.320/.362 slash line and missed some games battling a concussion. He hit 11 homers, a far cry from the 25 he slugged with Boston two years earlier. After becoming only the 15th catcher to hit 40 doubles in a season in 2013, Saltalamacchia managed only half that total a year later. Once among the league’s more offensively-inclined backstops, the wheels just seemed to fall off last year, and quickly.

The Diamondbacks will now give Saltalamacchia a close look to determine if he can benefit their club. They are betting a move from South Beach to Phoenix may help rejuvenate his bat. Fortunately for them, it’s a very low-cost gamble. The Marlins will cover the remaining $14 million on his deal, while the D-backs are responsible only for paying the MLB minimum. While it won’t sting much if the experiment fails, Arizona will hope this particular trial run yields some positive results in light of its struggles at the catcher position. Gerald Laird landed on the disabled list in mid-April, while Tuffy Gosewisch and Jordan Pacheco have shared time in the role. Overall, D-backs catchers have produced a lackluster .219/.276/.250 batting line, leaving plenty of room for improvement.

A real hitter’s park like Chase Field is an ideal location for Saltalamacchia to get his career back on track. While it certainly seems like he’s been around for a long while, he only turned 30 less than a week ago. Though the natural wear and tear of catching shouldn’t be discounted, especially on someone of Salty’s stature, it’s reasonable to think he might still have something useful left in the tank. The D-backs shouldn’t exactly hold their breath for a complete return to prominence from their new acquisition, but this is a minimal-risk proposition at a position of serious need.

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