The Cincinnati Reds have made their first signing of the offseason – at least when it comes to players that didn’t already play for them. On Saturday they inked catcher Alex Jackson to a minor league contract.
Jackson, who is 28-years-old, has spent parts of five seasons in the big leagues. Three of those seasons, though, have been ones where he played in five or fewer games. Last season he played in 58 games with Tampa Bay and hit .122/.201/.237. That’s not a typo – he had a .439 OPS on the year and played in 58 games. He hasn’t really been much better for his career in the big leagues, either, where he has a .456 OPS in 124 games played.
In Triple-A he’s found success throughout his career – at least at the plate. In parts of six seasons he’s hit .245/.325/.526 at the highest level of the minor leagues with 68 home runs in 1082 plate appearances.
This deal, though, is a minor league one and it’s not likely that the Reds are looking at him to be the backup to Tyler Stephenson in 2025. Instead they are likely filling a need of minor league catchers. Between the minor leagues and the big leagues, Cincinnati lost Luke Maile, Austin Wynns, Tucker Barnhart, P.J. Higgins, and Daniel Vellojin to free agency. That’s five catchers between Double-A, Triple-A, and the big leagues that the front office has to try and replace this offseason. Jackson is the first catcher that they’ve signed, but he will hardly be the last one before spring training rolls around.
You can see the career stats for Alex Jackson here.
Reds rank 25th among current rosters
Mike Petrillo of MLB.com looked at each roster as it stands at the beginning of the offseason. He ranked the Reds 25th in baseball, just ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates within the division. He lists the team’s biggest needs as corner infielders, corner outfielders, and pitching depth. If you’re reading this, then you already know that if the team wants to truly compete then they’ve got to go out and acquire better hitters than they had last season. Whether that’s in free agency or in trade, the team can’t just rely on “hope these guys are better/healthier this season!” with regards to half of the lineup or more.
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