PHOENIX -- The Brewers announced the signing of Gary Sánchez on Saturday, bringing back the veteran catcher on a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2027.
The club did not release the financials, but a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand that the slugger will earn $1.75 million this season, his second in Milwaukee after spending 2024 with the club.
Sánchez will serve as a backup to All-Star backstop William Contreras, but manager Pat Murphy likes Sánchez’s value beyond that.
“There’s a little bit of veteran leadership, game perspective,” Murphy said. “He’s a real smart baseball man and I love his game. I trust him, he’s proven it over time.”
Murphy also indicated that Sánchez, who has 189 career home runs and 509 RBIs, could factor into the DH conversation.
“It’ll be a nice addition, both as a catcher and sometimes a DH, we could pinch-hit him,” Murphy said. “He’s so versatile -- versatile meaning he’s a good hitter -- that we could carry three catchers.”
If that ends up being the case, that third-catcher spot figures to be a battle between top catching prospect Jeferson Quero and non-roster invitee Reese McGuire.
There will be plenty of reps to go around this spring while Contreras is away with Team Venezuela for the World Baseball Classic for a couple weeks in early March.
An 11-year Major League veteran, Sánchez spent last season with the Orioles but was limited to just 29 games. He spent most of the year on the injured list, first due to right wrist inflammation (from April 28-June 14) and later for a right knee sprain from Aug. 22 through the end of the season.
The Orioles were the 33-year-old's fifth team since he left the Yankees, with whom he signed as a 16-year-old international amateur in July 2009 and spent his first seven MLB seasons. After being traded to the Twins in March 2022, Sánchez has also seen time with the Mets, Padres and Brewers, plus a brief Minor League stint with the Giants in 2023.
He's yet to stick anywhere since leaving the Bronx, but Sánchez has enjoyed some success over the last four seasons, most notably down the stretch with San Diego in 2023, when he hit 19 home runs in 72 games. He did show signs he's still capable of such a run briefly between injuries in ‘25, when he hit .354 with four homers and 18 RBIs in a 13-game span in June.
Sánchez makes a particularly intriguing bench player. A two-time All-Star (2017, '19) and former Silver Slugger with two 30-homer seasons to his name, Sánchez finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2016 after hitting 20 homers and posting a 1.032 OPS in 53 games.
Although he hasn't replicated that kind of production with any consistency since 2019, Sánchez has continued putting up high barrel rates, sometimes resulting in unexpected power numbers for clubs that have taken a flier on him.
In 859 games at the Major League level, Sánchez is a .224/.309/.461 (.770 OPS) hitter.