The White Sox have made another move today by signing free agent catcher George Kottaras to a minor league contract. The White Sox are the tenth organization that Kottaras has been a part of and potentially his eighth major league team.
Kottaras has hit .215/.326/.411 in the majors. Kottaras does have a nice 14.1% walk rate and .197 ISO, but this is offset by his career .248 BABIP. Defensively, he has been a bit of a mixed bag over his career too. He's been a slightly better than average blocker over his career but below average as a pitch framer. Throwing out basestealers has been a bit of a struggle for Kottaras. He's thrown out 18% of basestealers while the league average has been 27% during his career.
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When Rob Brantly was signed, the Sox were up to five catchers on the 40-man roster.
Asked Rick Hahn about carrying five catchers -- "Five is a big number." They won't carry five into season. Trade could be coming.
— Dan Hayes (@CSNHayes) December 8, 2014
The next day, Josh Phegley was traded to the A's. While adding Kottaras in a minor league deal isn't as big of a deal as adding Brantly to the 40-man roster, this clogs the backup catcher competition a bit again.