White Sox Agree To Deal With Another Veteran Catcher

The White Sox have agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent catcher Martin Maldonado. FanSided's Robert Murry was the first to report that the White Sox were close to an agreement with Maldonado.

Maldonado is entering his 14th season in the big leagues and has logged 1,118 games over the course of his career.

The 37-year-old is fresh off a brutal campaign at the plate that saw him slash .191/.258/.348. These struggles at the plate are nothing new for Maldonado. In his last three seasons, he has an OPS+ of 58,70 and 66. He also hasn’t hit above .200 since 2020 when he batted .215. 

Despite the offensive struggles Maldonado has been a key piece for the Houston Astros for the last six seasons, serving as the team's primary catcher for the bulk of that stretch. In the last six years he has appeared in 65 postseason games. In 2022 he played in five World Series games en route to winning his first ring. He has also received rave reviews from teammates about his ability to connect with the pitching staff.

The Puerto Rican catcher has made a living off of his defense. Maldonado ranked in the MLB’s 75th percentile in Blocks Above Average (3) and 71st percentile in caught stealing above average. His 1.93 pop-time also ranks in the top half of the league and is a significant improvement over Yasmani Grandal’s 2.08 mark.

He is also a Gold Glove winner, taking home the award in  2017 as a member of the Angels. That season he also hit a career-high 14 home runs. The addition continues general manager Chris Getz’s theme of trying to improve the team’s defense. While Maldonado has been rated as an excellent defensive catcher throughout his career he did struggle with pitch framing last season. Statcast graded him as the worst pitch framer amongst qualified catchers.

He will now join his former teammate Korey Lee in Chicago. Lee was traded to the White Sox last summer for Kendal Graveman. Maldonado is the third catcher that Getz has acquired this offseason. On December 9th Getz added veteran catcher Max Stassi in a trade with the Atlanta Braves. Less than ten days later he signed Chuckie Robinson to a minor league deal.