Miami Marlins make the competition at catcher a bit more interesting
By Nick Stevens
Veteran backstop Sandy Leon is now with the Miami Marlins.
The Miami Marlins wrapped up a busy first week of 2021 by adding seven new players on minor league deals, including veteran catcher Sandy Leon.
Leon’s contract does include an invitation to spring training where he will have an opportunity to win the back-up catcher job out of camp.
Marlins also announce they have signed former Indians & Red Sox Catcher Sandy León to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) January 3, 2021
A nine-year MLB veteran, Leon has spent much of his career with the Boston Red Sox, winning a World Series in 2018 and serving as the team’s primary defensive option behind the plate.
He joins the Miami Marlins with a career .216/.284/.327 slash line and wRC+ of 61, but Leon’s claim to fame has been his standout abilities behind the plate, including his above-league average framing and ability to call a game.
It’s those defensive tools that made Leon attractive to Miami, an organization in need of catching depth, specifically veteran catching depth who can help continue to develop a very promising, but very young, pitching staff.
At the moment, the Miami Marlins feature 29-year-old Chad Wallach behind the dish, someone with good defensive numbers and very similar offensive numbers to Leon through 55 career major league games across four seasons.
The backup catching job will likely go to whichever of these two performs in spring training.
Primary catching duties will surely go to Jorge Alfaro. The 27-year-old impressed in his first season with the Marlins back in 2019, hitting .262 with 18 home runs and a wRC+ of 95. From an offensive standpoint, the Marlins had themselves one of the top catchers in the majors in 2019, but he took a step back in a weird 2020 campaign.
Across 31 games, Alfaro hit just .226 with a .280 on-base percentage, three home runs, and a 36% strikeout rate. But after strong 2018 and 2019 seasons in which Alfaro was worth a combined 5.5 Wins Above Replacement, he will be given every opportunity to rebound in 2021.
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The Sandy Leon signing is a good under-the-radar signing for the Miami Marlins as they look to build on an impressive 2020 season. Leon’s defensive numbers have taken a slight dip over the last two seasons, and he certainly wasn’t signed for his bat, but he’s a reliable veteran with World Series experience and the ability to help a young pitching staff in Miami.