Webster

Rivas

The Padres have 47 players left in major-league camp this spring. Rivas appeared in 24 games last year with the Padres, hitting .221/.303/.338 with two homers across 77 plate appearances. He’ll serve as emergency catching depth at Triple-A El Paso to open the regular season.

Rivas became a free agent after the Padres outrighted him off their 40-man roster earlier this offseason, but he’s ultimately wound up re-signing. He’ll give San Diego some catching depth.

Rivas has been removed from the Padres’ 40-man roster after hitting .221/.303/.338 with two homers across 77 plate appearances at the major-league level this season. The 31-year-old backstop started 20 games behind the plate and should be able to latch on as extra catching depth if he opts to elect free agency.

San Diego activated Austin Nola from the injured list on Thursday, which left Rivas expendable. The 30-year-old was 13-for-59 (.220) at the major league level.

Caratini played through pain on Thursday night after taking a foul tip off his thumb early in the contest, but was ultimately removed from the contest in the sixth inning. X-rays came back negative, but it seems likely that the Padres will give him a few days off to rest and recover before the All-Star break. It’ll be Webster Rivas behind the plate on Friday evening in his absence.

Rivas is not the most blurb-able of fellows, as he is but a backup cog who was down in Triple-A as of late May. But on Saturday he was in the zone -- something which could not be said of his teammates -- finishing with the Padres’ only extra base hits of the contest. San Diego would ultimately fail in spectacular fashion, losing by a 10-1 final score. There is no real fantasy value with this one, just a couple of doubles in a sea of offensive despair.

He’ll add depth behind the plate while Austin Nola (knee) is on the injured list. The 30-year-old owns a .260/.321/.362 line over 2104 plate appearances across 11 seasons in his minor league career. If he appears in a game for the Padres it will be his long-awaited big league debut.

The 30-year-old catcher is a long-time minor leaguer and spent most of 2020 playing in the Dominican Winter League. In Cactus League action thus far, Rivas carries a 1.010 OPS and .333 average through 11 plate appearances. Rivas is competing for the backup-backup catcher role, with Luis Campusano. Though Rivas’ performance at the plate today was impressive, it’s unlikely he’ll make the Opening Day roster.