May 28: The Rays announced this morning that Rortvedt has indeed been designated for assignment. Thaiss has been added to the active roster and will presumably be with his new team for this afternoon’s series finale versus Minnesota.
May 27: The Rays intend to designate catcher Ben Rortvedt for assignment, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. That will clear an active roster spot for new backup catcher Matt Thaiss, who was acquired from the White Sox this afternoon. Topkin notes that Rortvedt was bidding emotional farewells to his teammates after tonight’s loss to Minnesota.
Rortvedt is out of options. The Rays cannot send him down without putting him on waivers. They’re not going to carry three catchers or move on from starter Danny Jansen, so the Thaiss pickup made a Rortvedt DFA more or less inevitable. The lefty-hitting Rortvedt went 0-3 with a strikeout tonight and is down to an .095/.186/.111 slash line through 70 plate appearances. His strikeout and walk numbers are solid enough, but he has only managed one extra-base hit while ranking near the bottom of the league in hard contact rate.
Tampa Bay acquired Rortvedt from the Yankees in a three-team deal on the eve of Opening Day 2024. He started a little more than half the team’s games last season, batting .228/.317/.303 across a career-high 328 plate appearances. The Rays signed Jansen to an $8.5MM free agent deal to supplant Rortvedt as the primary catcher. The drop in his already poor offense has now squeezed him off the roster. While Thaiss has very little power himself, he’s at least getting on base at a huge .382 clip over 35 games this year.
A former second-pick of the Twins, Rortvedt is a capable defensive catcher. He has graded as a slightly above-average framer and blocker in his career. He has solid arm strength and has thrown out six of 27 attempted base-stealers. Once the Rays officially announce the DFA, they’ll have five days to explore trade scenarios. They’d place him on waivers if they don’t find a trade partner. An acquiring team would need to plug him directly onto the MLB roster.
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