Red Sox's 30-Year-Old Journeyman Catcher Elects Free Agency

Early in the offseason, teams like the Boston Red Sox tend to lose a lot of players to minor-league free agency.

The Red Sox were gunning for a playoff spot all season, so when they worried they might have a roster need, they took extra precautions to address it. That was especially true at the catching position, as both starter Carlos Narváez and backup Connor Wong had injury concerns at various points during the season.

In late July, the Red Sox picked up six-year major league veteran catcher Chadwick Tromp, who had just been let go by the Baltimore Orioles. But although Tromp got into eight games for the Orioles and Atlanta Braves early in the year, he never earned a call-up to Boston.

Tromp elects free agency without appearing for Boston

On Thursday, Tromp's time in the Red Sox organization may very well have come to an end. He elected free agency, according to the transactions log on his official MiLB.com roster page.

That same transaction log confirms that Tromp joined the active roster for Leones del Escogido in the Dominican Winter League, where he will showcase for big-league teams for the next couple of months. It's the Aruba native's first time playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic, a popular spot for veterans looking to keep their careers going.

In total, the Red Sox lost three catchers at the upper levels of the minors last week, as Tromp was joined in minor-league free agency by Seby Zavala and Mark Kolozsvary. Worcester also officially released 13-year major league veteran Yasmani Grandal, who has all but retired from professional baseball after leaving the team on his own terms in June.

Tromp has appeared in a handful of major league games every year since 2020, but never more than 24 of them, and his career OPS sits at .620. He's played for the San Francisco Giants, Braves, and Orioles in the big leagues, but also spent six years in the Cincinnati Reds farm system before making his major league debut.

It's not as though Tromp leaves behind big shoes to fill in Boston, but the Red Sox will certainly need to sign a few veteran catchers as part of their due diligence this winter. They already got a head start in that regard when they inked Jason Delay to a minor-league deal late last month.

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