Catcher Martín Maldonado was released by the White Sox in July and didn’t sign with another club in the final months of the 2024 season. But that doesn’t mean he’s walking away, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (X link) relays that the backstop is hoping to play one more season.
Maldonado, now 38, has a long track record as a glove-first catcher. In almost 4,000 career plate appearances at the major league level, he has produced a batting line of .203/.278/.344. That translates to a wRC+ of 70, indicating he’s been 30% below league average at the plate in his career.
But behind the plate is where he has created his value. He has a career tally of 59 Defensive Runs Saved, one of the top ten marks in the majors from 2012 to the present. Outlets like FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have given him strong grades for his framing, blocking and throwing in his career. On top of those quantifiable elements, he’s been lauded for intangibles like working with pitchers and providing clubhouse leadership.
Despite the lack of offense, he has signed four different contracts in the past six years, each with annual values between $2MM and $5MM. Teams have generally been willing to tolerate his lineup presence in exchange for his other contributions.
He tested the limits of that tolerance in 2024, however, and found a breaking point. He signed a one-year, $4.3MM deal with the White Sox going into the most recent season. But he hit just .119/.174/.230 in his 147 plate appearances, striking out in 34.7% of them while only drawing a walk 5.4% of the time. Though the Sox surely knew they weren’t going to be getting an elite bat, that was poor even by Maldonado’s low standards, so he was released in July.
It appears that Maldonado would prefer a better final act as a major leaguer, so he’ll try to get back in action in 2025. After missing the past few months of the season, he recently suited up for Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League. He hit two home runs in his ten games there but slashed .114/.184/.314 in that small sample, for what it’s worth.
Maldonado won’t have huge earning power with the way his 2024 season went, but what could work in his favor is that the catching market isn’t strong overall. Guys like Danny Jansen, Kyle Higashioka and Carson Kelly represent the top of the free agent market. Clubs like the Nationals, Padres, Marlins, Rays and others could be on the lookout for catching upgrades this offseason, so perhaps Maldonado will be able to find some interest, though he’d likely be looking at minor league offers.
