Detroit Tigers: Catching Prospects Lead to a Bright Future Or Do They?

The Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, currently have three catchers who are former big leaguers who were signed to minor leaguers or a career minor leaguer who has never reached the big leagues in Chace Numata.

The Detroit Tigers have two catchers with the big league club right now, and then there are three players at the Triple-A level who are almost producing a logjam for players like Rogers and Morgan. Rogers will most likely be called up to Triple-A, but it is going to require the Triple-A Toledo team to make some roster moves to thin out the roster.

With Triple-A right now, the Tigers have both Bobby Wilson and Cameron Rupp on one-year contracts with Rupp eligible for arbitration after this year. These two guys are journeymen, Wilson has spent parts of nine years across the big leagues with six different major league clubs, and Rupp has spent four years with the Phillies but never really got it going, with his highest best year being 2016 where he managed a .252 average, .303 on-base percentage, and .447 slugging percentage. Rupp did not play during the 2018 season but has been at Triple-A with the Mud Hens in 2019.

Besides Wilson and Rupp, the Mud Hens also have Chace Numata who is a minor leaguer who has spent his entire career bouncing around the minor leagues. Numata has spent ten seasons with multiple clubs minor league affiliates and has never reached the big leagues. These guys are just spot-fillers let’s be honest. The Tigers aren’t relying on these guys being around for the long haul, but I mention these guys for a reason.

The journeymen in Triple-A are preventing Rogers from reaching Triple-A which prevents Morgan from reaching Double-A when he’s ready to make the jump. Rogers may not be prepared for the Triple-A club, but when he is the Mud Hens are going to be left with four catchers, and that’s not going to work for them.