Christian

Bethancourt

Bethancourt didn’t end up making an appearance for the Pirates after being brought up in early September. The 35-year-old journeyman backstop has appeared in 428 games in the majors since 2013.

The 35-year-old catcher figures to pass through waivers unclaimed. He can choose to report to Triple-A Indianapolis rather than declaring free agency after he’s outrighted.

Bethancourt was acquired from the Yankees just a few weeks ago. He has hit .270/.320/.491 in 67 games at Triple-A between the two organizations, with 14 home runs and five steals. He has not taken an MLB at-bat since 2024.

He’s slated to join the Pirates’ taxi squad, which could lead to him being added to the active roster in the coming days. Bethancourt last appeared in the majors with the Cubs in 2024. The 34-year-old has hit .270/.320/.491 in 67 Triple-A games this year.

Bethancourt winds up with the Yankees as emergency catching depth after being released by the Cubs last week. The 34-year-old journeyman hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since getting into 62 games between the Marlins and Cubs back in 2024. He hit 11 homers and stole five bases in 59 games for Triple-A Iowa earlier this season.

The Cubs declined to keep an out-of-options Reese McGuire as a third catcher, so Bethancourt will fill that role from Triple-A Iowa. The 34-year-old hit .173/.219/.332 for the Jays’ Triple-A club last season. He’s a lifetime .229/.259/.362 hitter in 1,301 plate appearances.

No real surprises here as the biggest shockwave from Toronto came earlier on Sunday when the club announced that prospect Alan Roden made the season-opening roster over Addison Barger, who was subsequently shipped to Triple-A Buffalo.

It wasn’t a great 2024 season for Bethancourt, who hit .209/.241/.367 in 147 plate appearances for the Cubs and Marlins. The 33-year-old was productive in 2022 and 2023 so he has a chance to earn the backup role in Toronto, but he will need to beat out Tyler Heineman in spring training.

The quartet cleared waivers and have all elected free agency. Almonte is was an effective high-leverage reliever in the recent past and figures to get another shot somewhere else. With top catching prospect Moises Ballesteros on the doorstep of the majors there was no reason for the club to keep Bethancourt around any longer.

The Cubs got absolutely nothing from the catcher spot for four months, but now Bethancourt is hitting .407 with three homers in 11 games since replacing an injured Tomás Nido, and Miguel Amaya has gone 14-for-22 with two homers in his last six games to raise his OPS by nearly 100 points. This is the same Bethancourt who hit .159 in 82 at-bats for the Marlins this year. Before driving in seven, including the tying and go-ahead runs in the ninth today, his career high for RBI had been three through 413 major league games.