The Tigers have designated catcher Jake Rogers for task, per a crew announcement. His spot on the roster will go to veteran infielder/outfielder Javier Báez, who’s getting back from the injured listing and can begin tonight’s recreation in middle discipline (via Jason Beck of MLB.com). With Rogers jettisoned from the roster, the Tigers will flip backup catching duties over to younger Eduardo Valencia.
Rogers is among the longest-tenured members of the Tigers’ roster. The 31-year-old made his large league debut again in 2019 and dealt with the lion’s share of catching duties in 2023-24 earlier than giving technique to breakout backstop Dillon Dingler, who’s now within the midst of an MVP-caliber season.
Rogers has lengthy been a glove-first catcher, though he did belt a career-high 21 homers again in 2023 whereas slashing .221/.286/.444. He’s batted beneath .200 in every subsequent season, nevertheless, leading to a cumulative .188/.262/.338 slash in 589 journeys to the plate from 2024-26.
In 2024-25, Rogers paired that meager offense with top-of-the-scale defensive grades, serving to to offset his lack of worth within the batter’s field. This season, each Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast really feel he’s been beneath common. Rogers’ 26.7% caught-stealing price is robust, however Statcast dings him with sub-par framing and blocking skills in 2026. He hasn’t been nice in the case of ABS challenges both, succeeding 10 of 19 instances (53%).
While he hasn’t had an excellent season general, Rogers may nonetheless be traded or no less than claimed off waivers. There are a number of golf equipment looking out for catching assist — the Yankees, Rays, Red Sox, Rangers and White Sox amongst them. His $3.05MM wage is manageable, and his potential to manage the run recreation is sound. As famous, Rogers graded as a plus defender previous to this season, and even in a down 12 months on the plate, he’s carried out properly in a tiny pattern of 21 plate appearances towards lefties. The righty-swinging Rogers has by no means hit for common or gotten on base at a excessive clip, however he has loads of pop towards southpaws. In 332 profession plate appearances versus lefties, he’s clubbed 17 round-trippers whereas batting .216/.298/.454.
As of this writing, there’s about $984K of his wage but to be paid out. A membership searching for a short-term choice with some pop towards lefties may think about him an inexpensive choice to bolster its catching corps. If the Tigers can discover a taker in a commerce (and don’t want to incorporate money within the swap), they might trim round $700K from their luxurious tax invoice. For a membership that’s solely round $1-2MM over and has a number of qualifying provide candidates (in the event that they’re additionally not traded), that’s important. As I explored last week, ducking beneath the tax threshold would imply the distinction between a compensatory choose after the fourth spherical (in the event that they’re tax payors) and after the primary spherical (in the event that they’re beneath the road).
Valencia, 26, made his large league debut earlier this month. He’s out to a 5-for-12 begin in his large league profession, together with a pair of homers. There’s not a lot to be gleaned from such a tiny pattern, however he was slashing .262/.347/.479 with 17 homers in 81 Triple-A video games previous to being promoted. Valencia has drawn respectable evaluations for his framing and receiving. His throwing struggles have been a pink flag in latest seasons, however he upped his caught-stealing price from 14% in Triple-A final 12 months to 23% (15-for-64) in Toledo this 12 months earlier than being known as up.
