The White Sox announced the signing of veteran defensive-minded catcher Martin Maldonado to a one-year, $4.25 million contract Friday.
To make room on the 40-man roster, infielder Zach Remillard was designated for assignment.
Maldonado will receive $4 million in 2024 with a $4-million club option for 2025 that includes a $250,000 buyout.
“Defense, defense, defense,” manager Pedro Grifol said of the Sox’ push to be a better fielding team in 2024.
The Sox also acquired veteran catcher Max Stassi this offseason. Yasmani Grandal finished out his fourth year of a $73 million contract in 2023, which saw the Sox finish 61-101.
“From the feedback I’ve got from around the league, they’re both well respected catchers that our pitchers will like throwing to,” pitching coach Ethan Katz told the Sun-Times.
The Sox will be the sixth team of Maldonado’s 13-year career, and they view him as a good fit for what figures to be a young and largely unproven pitching staff in 2024.
A proven catcher defensively for much of his career — he won a Gold Glove with the Angels in 2017 and was considered a key component of three World Series teams — Maldonado owns a .207/.282/.349 batting line and .631 OPS with 111 home runs during his career. With the Astros last season, he batted .191/.258/.348 while hitting 15 home runs for the second consecutive season. The Astros signed Victor Caratini to a two-year deal in December.
While Maldonado’s reputation as a leader for pitching staffs and game calling are excellent, his framing numbers fell to last among qualified catchers per Statcast last season, and he threw out 14% of attempting base stealers.
Maldonado tied for the American League lead with 116 starts at catcher, and his 3.91 catcher’s ERA ranked sixth in the major leagues last season. Maldonado appeared in the World Series with the Astros in 2019, ‘21 and ‘22.
Remillard, 29, hit .252/.295/.320 one home run in 54 games last season for the Sox.
