Detroit Tigers add to catcher mix, sign Dustin Garneau to minor league deal

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The Detroit Tigers added a little more depth at catcher on Wednesday, signing Dustin Garneau to a minor league deal and extending him an invite to spring training.

Garneau, 33, has been a backup for all of his six major league seasons with the Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics (two stints), Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels and Houston Astros. In 2020 with the Astros, he hit .158 with one home run and four RBIs in just 38 at-bats over 17 games.

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For his career, Garneau is a .202 hitter with nine home runs, 42 RBIs an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of .626 in 376 at-bats.

Defensively, Garneau has thrown out 33% of the runners trying to steal against him and has a .990 fielding percentage.

The Tigers have three other catchers vying for playing time: Jake Rogers, Grayson Greiner and Eric Haase. Austin Romine was the starting catcher most of last season, but he is a free agent.

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Rogers, 25, one of the prospects from the Justin Verlander trade, struggled at the plate in his short stint in the majors in 2019 and did not make the major league squad last season.

Greiner, 28, has also struggled to hit in his three major league seasons, batting just .118 in 51 at-bats in 2020.

Haase, signed last season, 28, was behind Romine and Greiner on the depth chart and hit just .176 in 17 at-bats.

Contact Kirkland Crawford: kcrawford@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @HiKirkHere.

This article was originally published by Freep.com. Read the original article here.