According to Mike Mayer of Metsmerized, the Tigers are re-signing veteran catcher Tomas Nido to a minor league contract. If Nido makes the major league roster, his base pay would be $1.5 million, according to Detroit Free Press reporter Evan Petzold. This spring’s major league camp will include the ACES client as a non-roster invitee.
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Despite only playing in three Triple-A games with Detroit after joining in mid-September, Nido, who turned 31 in April, started the 2024 season with the Mets before being cut loose and signed free agent contracts with the Cubs and Tigers. Nido is a standout defensive catcher who bats light.53 wRC+ in 323 games and 945 visits to the field as a 210/.245/.309 hitter. In 26 percent of his career plate appearances, he has been punched out, while his walk rate is 4.1%. He has had a lot of MLB run despite his lack of punch because of his excellent framing grades and high blocking and throwing ratings. Since last season, when the league average was only 20.3%, Nido has caught 22.7% of runners who have tried to steal against him.
The Tigers don’t currently need catching assistance on their major league roster. Jake Rogers will return there as the starting pitcher. He only hit.197/.255/.352 in 2024, but he was a finalist for the Gold Glove and just a year after hitting 21 home runs and achieving statistics that were about league-average.
Dillon Dingler, a former second-round selection, is the front-runner to be Rogers’ backup. With Detroit, he only managed to hit.167/.195/.310, but it was in a very small sample of 87 plate appearances. With a.308/.379/.559 pace (139 wRC+) and 17 home runs in 301 trips to the bat, Dingler was far superior in Triple-A Toledo. Dingler stopped a gaudy 38% of stolen base attempts against him in Toledo, and he receives better-than-average framing and blocking evaluations.
