The White Sox roster has continued to take shape as we head towards the last week of Spring Training. After adding their right fielder on Friday in AJ Pollock, the team has traded Zack Collins to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for another catcher, Reese McGuire.
This move was announced by Jeff Passan this afternoon on Twitter.
McGuire, 27, was the 14th overall draft pick in the first round of the 2013 MLB Draft by the Pirates. He has spent all of his time in the major leagues with the Blue Jays, hitting .248/.297/.390 in limited action. He is a left-handed hitter who really hasn’t shown too much power behind the plate, which has prevented him from becoming a full-time player.
However, McGuire’s appeal is absolutely behind the plate – the reason why the White Sox traded for him – as a solid defense catcher. He ranked 11th in MLB last season in Baseball Savant’s Catcher Framing statistics, Framing Runs Above Average (+4). He posted sub-2.00 section pop times as recently as 2019 (when Baseball Savant last tracked this statistic), which was among the top in the majors as well. He threw out 11 of the 31 potential base stealers he faced last season (35% CS-rate).
Overall, this is a quality move for the White Sox who were left looking for answers behind the plate this season. Should Grandal miss any significant amount of time, the White Sox can feel pretty comfortable with McGuire’s defense and serviceable bat behind the plate. He absolutely strengthens the position defensively beyond where is has been in recent seasons, and he has the ability to provide some offense behind the plate. Let’s see if he can tap into a power a bit more on the South Side, but even if he doesn’t, the White Sox should feel a lot better about their catching situation today than they did before.
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Featured Image: MLB Trade Rumors / Twitter
White Sox get their backup catcher for Yasmani Grandal, one who also hits left-handed but plays much better defense than Zack Collins.