White Sox make savvy waiver claim of ex-Tigers, Red Sox catcher originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Chicago White Sox went into the MLB trade deadline with a need behind the plate at catcher. They explored some options, but only wound up with Joey Bart.
Unfortunately, Bart got hurt, landed on the injured list, and is now going to miss a lot of time. So, with a need at catcher once again, the White Sox got a perfect opportunity to upgrade their depth chart.
According to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com, the White Sox have claimed former Detroit Tigers veteran catcher Jake Rogers off waivers from the Boston Red Sox. It's a savvy move and is a very nice addition to the catcher room this summer at no cost.
White Sox make savvy waiver claim of Jake Rogers
"Sources: Jake Rogers to White Sox via waiver claim," Cotillo reports Thursday afternoon.
Rogers joins Drew Romo and Edgar Quero in the catcher room, as Kyle Teel and Bart are both on the injured list. Romo has a .508 OPS this season, while Quero has a .541 OPS.
The catcher position is one the White Sox clearly needed to upgrade. Fortunately, they've found their upgrade in Rogers, the longtime Tigers catcher.
The 31-year-old veteran was recently acquired in the Adley Rutschman trade between the Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles, which came after he was DFA'd by the Tigers earlier this season.
He was then DFA'd by Boston a few days ago when Rutschman was activated off the injured list. That gave the White Sox a prime opportunity to land a decent catcher option.
MORE: MLB experts voted Red Sox's Adley Rutschman trade as most surprising by wide margin
This season, in 40 games, Rogers has 104 at-bats with a .183 batting average, but a .617 OPS. That's not anything to be overly excited about, but it's a clear step better than Quero and Romo's offensive production this season.
With the Red Sox, however, Rogers had a 1.389 OPS in nine plate appearances, getting three hits in six at-bats with four runs scored, two doubles, two RBIs, and two walks with one sacrifice fly.
He obviously won't be posting such a high OPS for the White Sox, but it's clear that Rogers is a legitimately decent starting catcher option for the White Sox and is a very savvy mid-August pickup off waivers for Chicago as they try to win the AL Central.
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