[ad_1]
Blue Jays supervisor John Schneider instructed reporters in the present day, together with Kaitlyn McGrath of The Athletic, that catcher Brian Serven has made the crew because the backup to Alejandro Kirk. Serven just isn’t but on the 40-man roster and can have to be added earlier than the season begins subsequent week.
Serven’s alternative comes on the heels of catcher Danny Jansen suffering a wrist fracture earlier this month, leaving Kirk’s common associate behind the plate ticketed for the injured listing to open the season. Serven, who will rejoice his twenty ninth birthday in Might, has 73 video games of massive league expertise below his belt since making his huge league debut with the Rockies through the 2022 season. Since then, he’s hit simply .195/.248/.314 in 228 plate appearances, all of which got here throughout his time with Colorado.
Whereas he posted high quality framing numbers throughout his time within the majors, that wasn’t sufficient for the Rockies to maintain him on the 40-man roster this offseason. He was designated for project by the membership again in January and was promptly claimed off waivers by the Cubs, although he remained with Chicago for lower than per week earlier than he was as soon as once more DFA’d. This time, he was claimed by the Blue Jays, who have been in a position to sneak him via waivers in late January, permitting them to maintain him within the group as non-roster depth headed into Spring Coaching.
That call has now paid off, as Serven made probably the most of his alternatives this spring by clubbing three residence runs whereas drawing walks at a 14.8% clip in his 27 journeys to the plate throughout 12 spring video games. Whereas Spring Coaching numbers are in fact not often predictive of standard season efficiency, it’s doable Serven’s scorching streak helped his case over fellow non-roster depth possibility Payton Henry, who seems set to start the season at Triple-A Buffalo. Whereas Serven has but to hit a lot within the huge leagues, his first rate minor league numbers recommend that he might present the extent of offense related to a major-league caliber backup behind the plate. He’s a profession .240/.310/.418 hitter within the minors, together with a .238/.305/.450 slash line in 134 profession video games on the Triple-A degree.
[ad_2]
Source link
