Miami Marlins add to catcher depth by signing veteran Curt Casali to minor-league deal

Jordan McPherson
·1 min read
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The Miami Marlins have added to their catcher depth on the eve of spring training.

The Marlins are signing catcher Curt Casali to a minor-league deal, a source confirmed to the Miami Herald on Tuesday evening. Marlins pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to Jupiter for spring training on Wednesday, with the team’s first official workout scheduled for Thursday morning.

Casali, 35, is a 10-year MLB veteran who has played for the Tampa Bay Rays (2014-2017), Cincinnati Reds (2018-2020; 2023), San Francisco Giants (2021-2022) and Seattle Mariners (2022). In 502 career games, he has a .220 batting average, .694 on-base-plus-slugging mark, 154 RBI, 47 home runs, 58 doubles and 145 runs scored.

Defensively, Casali been above-average behind the plate, with 19 career defensive runs saved according to FanGraphs. This includes being in the positive in five of the past seven seasons in which he caught at least 200 innings.

With the addition of Casali, the Marlins will now have seven catchers attending big-league spring training: Nick Fortes and Christian Bethancourt on the 40-man roster as well as non-roster invitees Casali, Will Banfield, Bennett Hostetler, Paul McIntosh and Jhonny Pereda.

This deal is the fifth transaction the Marlins have made in the past week following trades to acquire utility player Nick Gordon, infielder Jonah Bride and pitcher Darren McCaughan as well as claiming relief pitcher Declan Cronin off waivers.