Potential Free Agent Backup Catcher Options for Royals
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The 2022 MLB offseason is likely to get a bit quiet following the conclusion of winter meetings and the Rule 5 Draft, and the Kansas City Royals are opting to sit back and allow the market to come to them.
With Kansas City probably being more of a late player in this year's free agency, the club is putting faith in its coaching staff and philosophical changes to help foster more growth from young players in 2023. Among the club's rumored wish list, adding a backup catcher is one possibility. Despite already having both Salvador Perez and MJ Melendez entrenched and Freddy Fermin recently added to the 40-man roster, executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager J.J. Picollo appears interested in investing even more at the backstop spot.
Going after a high-profile catcher is out of the question, but there are plenty of reserve options who could play whenever Perez needs a day off from behind the dish and Melendez is in the outfield. Let's take a peek at three free agents the Royals should consider taking a closer look at as the month of December continues.
1. Jorge Alfaro
After one season with the San Diego Padres, Jorge Alfaro was non-tendered in November and is still on the open market as of the publishing of this article. The 29-year-old has 478 career games under his belt spanning seven seasons with three different teams, and he's exceeded the 100-game mark twice. After playing 92 games in 2021 and 82 games this past season, though, his future role is almost surely as a quality choice when a starter is injured or rests.
Alfaro struggled at the plate in his final seasons with the Miami Marlins, and his lone campaign in San Diego brought both good and bad elements to the table. He hit seven home runs and logged 40 RBIs with a 90 wRC+, but he also struck out 35.8% of the time while walking at a 4% clip. The veteran has graded out close to neutral on defense throughout his career and ranked in the 96th percentile in Baseball Savant's pop time for catchers in 2022. Alfaro may not want such a relegated role in Kansas City but if the team could sell him on it, he'd make for a good pickup.
2. Curt Casali
A 10th-round pick way back in 2011, Curt Casali is now 34 years old and set to potentially join his fifth team since making his big-league debut in 2014. He's never played more than 84 games in a single season, and he's logged a grand total of 500 plate appearances from 2020-2022. Casali's defensive metrics are starting to show some signs of falling off, but he did finish tied with Alfaro and comfortably ahead of both Perez and Melendez in catcher framing runs this past season. He's an older player who has worked with countless pitchers, which is a plus for a team like the Royals.
In 57 combined outings with the San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners this year, Casali hit just .203 but posted a .318 OBP thanks to a 13.6% walk rate. He's walked a double-digit percentage in four consecutive years now, which is a testament to his patience and maturity in the batter's box. Casali recorded a 92 wRC+ in 2022 and has generally been a decent offensive player throughout his career. His price tag shouldn't be anything crazy and he's used to being a reserve who doesn't play a ton, so this could be an ideal pairing if Kansas City is interested.
3. Cam Gallagher
Just about everyone in Royals circles should be familiar with Cam Gallagher, as he was a second-round pick by the franchise in 2011 and spent parts of six seasons with the big-league team. After being traded at this year's deadline to the San Diego Padres in exchange for outfielder Brent Rooker and playing 16 games for their Triple-A affiliate, he was picked up off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles. Six games into that stint and once the season was over, Gallagher rejected his outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk and subsequently became a free agent.
In his big-league career, Gallagher is slashing .240/.302/.355 with a 76 wRC+ in 171 games. His 2020 production was impressive — 115 wRC+ in 60 plate appearances — but since then, he hasn't been able to justify giving a significant amount of at-bats with great confidence. With that said, Gallagher's solid defensive reputation and familiarity with the Royals could give him an inside edge on rejoining the team if they choose to go down that road again. Weirder things have certainly happened in Kansas City.
