Orioles Sign Veteran to Deal for Catching Depth
One thing that Baltimore Orioles' general manager, Mike Elias, has done since taking over his role is making savvy decisions that might be under the radar, but are impactful for the organization.
That's one of the ways he's been able to build the best farm system in all of baseball.
As a small market team, it's pertinent the Orioles find talent from as many different areas as possible, since they aren't able to spend tons of money on the open market.
Elias is at it again, signing catcher David Banuelos to a minor league contract with a spring training invite according to Roch Kubatko of MASN.
"Has thrown out 38 percent of runners attempting to steal in minors in Mariners and Twins system. Catching depth for O's," he also added on his social media account.
Banuelos was a former fifth round pick of the Seattle Mariners back in the 2017 MLB Draft. They traded him during the offseason to the Minnesota Twins in return for $1 million in international signing bonus money as they pursued Shohei Ohtani.
He was able to reach the Twins' Triple-A affiliate in 2021 and spent his entire 2022 season there as well. His struggles at the plate likely was a reason behind his demotion to Double-A for all of last year.
As Kubatko pointed out, he's been a solid catcher on the defensive side based on throwing out runners.
Hitting is where he needs to improve.
Banuelos has a career slash line of .215/.277/.354 with 29 homers, 142 RBI and 380 strikeouts over 320 minor league games.
This past season was a promising sign in his hitting development as he slashed .270/.369/.526 with 10 home runs and 30 RBI, easily his best offensive year.
He elected to hit free agency following the 2023 season and now will be able to work within Baltimore's developmental system to try and make a career breakthrough.
