Martin Maldonado and the Chicago White Sox have entered into a one-year deal plus an option, according to a Major League source, confirming the news on MLB.com Tuesday. The club has not yet confirmed the move.
Maldonado spent the last six seasons with Houston after the Astros bought him in a midseason trade from the Angels in 2018. The veteran backstop has a career .207/.282/.349 line with a 72 OPS+ across 13 MLB seasons with the Astros, Angels, Brewers, Cubs and Royals.
Renowned for his impeccable defense and staff wielding ability, Martin became Houston’s top catcher across the last half-decade. Despite a .623 OPS in an Astros uniform, that number dropped to .593 the last three seasons. He was slotted in as Houston’s primary catcher due to his defense and rapport with Astros pitchers. 2023 breakout rookie Yanie Diaz and Veteran catcher Victor Caratini whom the Astros signed to a multi-year contract this offseason will takeover catching duties for Houston in 2024.
Maldonado also worked with manager Pedro Grifol in Kansas City during the 2019 campaign, when Grifol was part of the Royals’ coaching staff. He played alongside Korey Lee in Houston, with Lee bought at the ‘23 Trade Deadline in exchange for reliever Kendall Graveman as one of team’s potential future catchers.
“I got to be around Martín Maldonado, I got to learn from him,” Lee said this past September. “I got to see how he managed a pitching staff at that end. Learned how he communicated with pitchers and it taught me a lot.
“I’m going to carry that further into my career and make it my way, but he taught me how to be a professional catcher over there in Houston. They knew how to win and I want to bring that over to the White Sox.”
This signing is reasonable for Chicago especially with a young pitching staff that has another backstop to pair with Max Stassi, whom the team got from the Atlanta Braves earlier in the month, and Lee. With a possible turnover coming from a White Sox team lead by new general manager Chris Getz who might be tasked with moving frontline starter Dylan Cease, signing a veteran catcher who has been a part of many winning Astros teams is valuable.
Lee, impressed the White Sox with his September work behind the plate, but for his young big league career, Lee is hitting .100 at the plate. Edgar Quero, the team’s 20-year-old switch-hitting catcher ranked No.81 overall by MLB Pipeline, will benefit from working with Maldonado.
Chicago was very interested in Maldonado before they acquired Stassi, but that interest continued for a catcher with 202 plate appearances and 65 matches worth of playoff experience. Maldonado (8,663 ⅔ innings) joins Salvador Perez (10,063 ⅔), J.T. Realmuto (8,923 ⅓), Yasmani Grandal (8,404 ⅔) and Yan Gomes (8,242 ⅔) as the only active backstops with over 8,000 innings caught.
