Beyond Yasmani Grandal, the White Sox don’t have a ton of catching depth at or near the major league level. Zack Collins and Seby Zavala both gave unimpressive showings last season, and as a result, it will be up to the White Sox to create a backup competition come spring.
They took a step towards doing that recently, signing catcher Raudy Read away from the Nationals organization to a minor league deal. Read was assigned to Triple-A Charlotte.
Read, 27, came over to the Nationals as an international free agent all the way back in 2011 (age 17). He owns a career .259/.313/.433 slash line in the minors, though the power has developed over recent seasons. Read is a power-focused catcher, with not much to offer consistently in terms of walks. In 2018, Read received an 80-game suspension for PEDs, which allowed others within the Nationals organization to rise and overtake his status behind the plate.
According to Baseball America, Read was among the top 30 prospects within the Nationals organization for parts of five seasons, but his career has really yet to materialize at the big league level. He hasn’t been given much more than a cup of coffee in the majors during his career, amassing 22 at-bats over two seasons and collecting four hits.
Read had a pretty impressive 2021 Triple-A season in Rochester, slashing .288/.326/.575 with six homers in 80 ABs with the team. Both his 30.2% strikeout rate and 3.5% walk rate leave a lot to be desired; that being said, the White Sox are searching for a backup catcher, and with his career 37% caught stealing percentage, his arm could certainly be an asset behind the plate.
Read is clearly an interesting option on a White Sox team with no clear-cut option at the backup catcher position to start next season. It will likely come down to whichever player can provide the best defense with an acceptable level of hitting. Given that, it would seem as though Read has as good a chance as anyone to break camp with the team.
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