Twins claim catcher Jhonny Pereda off waivers, DFA Jair Camargo

Pereda will report to Triple-A St. Paul as the Twins' new No. 3 catcher in the organization.

Jun 8, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics catcher Jhonny Pereda (64) gestures after hitting an RBI-double against the Baltimore Orioles during the second inning at Sutter Health Park. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The Twins have claimed catcher Jhonny Pereda off of waivers from the Athletics and sent him to Triple-A St. Paul, according to beat writer Dan Hayes. Jair Camargo has been designated for assignment to create room on the 40-man roster.

Pereda, 29, appeared in 17 games with the A's this season, going 7 for 40 with two doubles. He also played in 20 games for the Miami Marlins last year. In 86 career MLB plate appearances, he's hit .203 with a .495 OPS, but the Venezuela native is a career .296 hitter with a .799 OPS across 234 games at the Triple-A level. He's a solid defensive option at the catcher position.

This season, Pereda was far more known for his appearances in a few different blowout losses as a pitcher. He allowed seven runs in his three innings of work but did strike out three batters, including famously blowing a high fastball past Shohei Ohtani in May.

Position player Jhonny Pereda had Shohei in hell with this sequence pic.twitter.com/Z4AyAmvdBK

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 16, 2025

Camargo, 26, has been on the Triple-A IL since late May due to a forearm sprain. He joined the Twins in the 2020 trade that sent Brusdar Graterol to the Dodgers and brought Kenta Maeda to Minnesota. Once viewed as a prospect with a chance to be a future catching option for the Twins, his stock has faded due to severe struggles with St. Paul.

Camargo has shown some pop, hitting 78 career homers in the minor leagues, but he hasn't hit for average and his career strikeout rate is over 31 percent. He had a .693 OPS for the Saints last season and was down at .577 this year before getting hurt. Camargo made his MLB debut last year and went 0 for 6 across two brief stints with Minnesota. It's possible he could remain in the Twins' organization despite this DFA.

Pereda is now positioned as the Twins' No. 3 catcher and would be in line for a call-up if either Ryan Jeffers or Christian Vazquez were to get hurt. Mickey Gasper and Patrick Winkel are the other catches at Triple-A; Diego Cartaya has spent most of this year on the development list due to extreme struggles at the plate. The top catching prospect in the organization is Ricardo Olivar, who is at Double-A Wichita.

Jeffers is under team control for one more season after this one. Vazquez is a pending free agent.