Ryan

Budde

Budde spent the entire 2011 season with Triple-A Las Vegas, batting .234/.331/.376 with seven homers and 30 RBI over 254 plate appearances. The 32-year-old backstop appeared in 29 games with the Angels from 2007-2010. He’ll likely serve as organization depth for Arizona.

Bobby Wilson has returned to health and reclaimed the Angels’ backup catching gig. Budde spent about three weeks in the majors, batting .400 (4-for-10) with a home run and three RBI. He could be back later.

Budde was taken by the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft last winter, stashed on the DL to start the year and then returned to the Angels in April. The 27-year-old will now make his major league debut after hitting .295/.367/.449 in 156 at-bats for Salt Lake. He’ll play behind Jeff Mathis.

With no takers for Gary Matthews Jr. and no willingness to eat salary and cut Robb Quinlan, the Angels had no room for some pretty useful players here. Brown especially deserved a job. Wood is certainly more talented, but he’s guaranteed several more chances. Brown isn’t.

Budde will serve as an emergency catcher for the Angels as they streak toward the American League West crown. He hit .229 down on the farm this season while splitting time with Bobby Wilson.

Budde was given just one start over Jeff Mathis in the 27 games that Mike Napoli missed, and he had a total of two at-bats. That shows what the Angels think about him.

Budde just spent a month in the majors with Mike Napoli hurt, but he made just one start over Jeff Mathis in 27 games on the roster. He’ll be the third catcher now.

With Mike Napoli heading to the disabled list, Budde will serve as Jeff Mathis’ backup. Mathis figures to get the bulk of the playing time until Napoli returns.

Budde will take the place of Bobby Wilson as Mike Napoli’s backup. Some had hoped this would be Hank Conger, but that would be a mistake at this point. Conger needs consistent playing time at Triple-A, not the occasional pinch-hitting appearance at the majors, so Budde gets the call.

The least talent that’s possibly ever been available and the major league teams go and make 19 picks, the largest number in years. We can only imagine that the GMs were so frustrated about not getting anything done the previous three days that they didn’t want to go home completely empty-handed. Budde, 27, hit .233/.324/.414 for Triple-A Salt Lake last season. He was fifth on the Angels’ depth chart at catcher, and there’s little reason to think he’d be of much help to a major league team.