NEW YORK – Mitch Garver embraced a new idea during an offseason eight years ago, adopting a one-knee-down catching style that had yet to become widely adopted at the Major League level. That came at the urging of Tanner Swanson, then a catching coordinator with the Twins.
Now it is the Yankees’ turn to take a chance on Garver, who signed a Minor League contract with the club on Friday. The 35-year-old veteran will join Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, bolstering the organization’s depth behind the plate.
“He’s got a ton of experience, and he’s a guy that’s had a lot of success in the league,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’re trying to add to our depth and protection. We’ll get him into our system and see where we can help him, see what he has. You never know.”
Catching was on the Yankees’ shopping list ahead of the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline, but they were unable to find a match to upgrade their current pairing of Austin Wells and Ali Sánchez. Yankees catchers rank tied for 27th in the Majors in batting average (.191) and 28th in OPS (.567).
The Bombers’ other Triple-A catching options include Christian Bethancourt and J.C. Escarra, the latter of whom broke camp on the Opening Day roster.
“We feel like we’re deep and covered and protected as much as you can be,” Boone said. “That’s one of the challenges now with the Trade Deadline and not having the waiver [claims]. You’ve got to make sure you’re building some depth in case some things happen. I feel like we’ve done that.”
A right-handed hitter, Garver has produced big numbers before – he won a Silver Slugger Award with the Twins in 2019, and he posted a 138 OPS+ in 87 games for the Rangers in '23 – but that has not been his recent track record.
Garver had a .175/.302/.294 slash line with four home runs in 50 games with the Mariners before being released earlier this week. He also struggled with framing this year, ranking in the 17th percentile, according to Baseball Savant.
“We think there’s probably some things we can tap into to improve the defense in the short runway that we have here, and eventually he’ll make his way to Scranton and see if he has anything left offensively,” Swanson, the Yankees' catching coordinator, said. “We think he does. That’s why we acquired him.”
Reflecting on his work with Garver during their time together in Minnesota, Swanson described his relationship with the catcher as “awesome.” The one-knee-down approach improved Garver’s framing, an area where he was being graded poorly entering the offseason of 2018-19.
“Honestly, I probably wouldn’t be a Major League coach if it weren’t for him,” Swanson said. “It took somebody to take a risk on a radical idea at the time, and he was willing to do it. So I’m indebted and grateful that he listened, and here we are.”