Veteran catcher highlights first round of Marlins non-roster invites to spring training
The Miami Marlins on Sunday announced their first wave of minor-league signings with invitations to big-league spring training.
The highlight of the seven-player list: Catcher Sandy Leon.
The 30-year-old is a nine-year MLB veteran who has played in 417 career big-league games, including 351 starts behind the plate. He’s a switch-hitter with a career .216 batting average with 27 home runs, 52 doubles, 127 RBI and 133 runs scored. Leon started his career with the Washington Nationals but received the bulk of his MLB playing time during his five years with the Boston primarily with the Boston Red Sox from 2015-2019.
His best season as a big-leaguer came in 2016, when he hit .310 with 17 doubles, seven home runs, 35 RBI and 36 runs scored over 78 games.
Leon played for the Cleveland Indians in 2020, hitting just .136 with a .539 OPS in 66 at-bats.
His signing is a flier for a Marlins team that very well might need to address its catcher situation in spring training. Miami has both Jorge Alfaro and Chad Wallach back for 2021 but both still have room to grow.
The other six to receive invites to big-league spring training: infielder Eddy Alvarez; right-handed pitchers Anthony Bender, Alexander Guillen, Luis Madero and Zach Thompson; and catcher Brian Navarreto.
Detwiler deal official
The Marlins also formally announced the signing of left-handed pitcher Ross Detwiler on Sunday. The team designated for assignment Stephen Tarpley to make room for Detwiler on the 40-man roster.
With Tarpley DFA’d, Miami has just three relief pitchers remaining on its 40-man roster who threw at least 10 innings for the club last season: Yimi Garcia, James Hoyt and Richard Bleier.
Garcia, Jeff Brigham, Nick Neidert, Jordan Holloway and Alex Vesia are the only three left from the Marlins’ Opening Day bullpen, although Neidert and Holloway are seen as starting pitchers by the organization. Brigham and Vesia threw just 5 1/3 combined innings.
This story was originally published January 3, 2021 at 9:59 AM.
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