Was a teammate of former Cardinal Stephen Piscotty while with Las Vegas (AAA) in 2024...His father, Yohel, was a minor leaguer in the Rockies and Cubs systems from 1992-96...Battled through homelessness in 2020 when the Minor Leagues shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic. He and his family lived out of their 2011 Hyundai Sonata in a Walmart parking lot...Attempts to travel his family to every road game...Resides in Camp Hill, Pa. with his wife, Paola, and son.
2025
Was added to Major League camp on March 10 as a non-roster invite and selected to the Cardinals roster on April 7, following an injury to catcher Iván Herrera. Opened the season with Memphis (AAA) and slashed .333/.333/.762 (7-for-21) with two homers and six RBI in five games...Made his Cardinals debut on April 7 at Pittsburgh in front of approximately 15 family members based in Harrisburg, Pa. Threw out an attempting base-stealer and ripped a solo homer to help the Cardinals become the first team in MLB history to have three different catchers homer in its team's first 10 games (Elias)...Batted .345/.333/.552 (10-for-29) with an .885 OPS in a reserve role. His .345 batting average off the bench was MLB's second-highest in 2025 behind Braves Eli White (.353) and the best by a Cardinals reserve since José Martinez (.357) in 2017. Was one of six Major Leaguers during the season with three hits off the bench in a game and the first Cardinals catcher to do so since Jason LaRue (July 3, 2010 vs. Cincinnati)...Was 6-for-21 (.286) with two doubles and a game-winning home run (July 5 at Chicago Cubs) as a pinch-hitter. His seven RBI as a pinch-hitter tied Justin Turner for second in baseball behind only Rowdy Tellez (11). His seven pinch-RBI were most by a Cards pinch hitter since Albert Pujols (eight in 2022), and tied Tim McCarver (seven in 1974) for most by a Cards primary catcher (since 1974) in a season. Compiled a six-game hitting streak as a pinch-hitter (June 19-July 22), the longest single-season streak by a Cardinal pinch-hitter since Matt Adams in 2016 (six games)...Crushed a solo home run vs. the Yankees on Aug. 17 with his bat decorated with red, yellow and blue painted handprints from hospitalized children at St. Louis' Mercy Children's Hospital.
2024
Played the entire season with Las Vegas (AAA), his second straight season with the Aviators...Started 50 games at catcher and 16 at first base...Tied for the team lead with 27 doubles...Ran off a pair of 11-game hitting streaks (7/1-28 & 9/8-end of season). Hit safely in all but one game in the month of July and September...Batted .467 (28-for-60) with eight doubles, three home runs and 14 RBI in the month of September...Threw out 20% (16 CS/80 SB ATT) of attempted base stealers...Smacked right-handed pitchers at a .341 clip (77-for-226, 11 HR) against .292 vs. left-handers (35-for-120, four HR)…Hit a grand slam off Austin Warren vs. SAC (6/27)…Posted a season-high four hits vs. Sugar Land (5/30) and against at Albuquerque (9/10)…Rapped out a career-best three doubles vs. Round Rock (9/8)…Received a non-roster invitee to Major League Spring Training...Made three relief appearances as pitcher compiling 2.2 innings allowing five runs on five hits with a home run and a strikeout. Home run was allowed to Ryan Bliss of Tacoma (5/23/24-Game 1 of DH).
2023
Spent his first season in the A’s organization and Triple-A Las Vegas and batted .306 with 18 home runs, 81 RBI and an .861 OPS in 92 games...Hit .300 or better for the third consecutive as a minor leaguer and has a .320 batting average in 234 games over that span...Had minor league career highs in runs (48) and RBI (81) and matched his best in hits (113)...Ranked fourth in the A’s farm system in RBI, tied for fifth in home runs, eighth in extra base hits (44), tied for eighth in hits and ninth in doubles (26)...Tied for ninth in the Pacific Coast League in most grounded into double plays (14)...Struck out just 40 times for an average of 9.78 plate appearances per strikeout...Batted .350 (43-for-123) with a 1.044 OPS against left-handed pitchers compared to .285 (70- for-246) with a .769 OPS against right-handers…hit nine home runs in 123 at bats against lefties, nine in 246 at bats against righties...His average improved to .333 with runners in scoring position…10 of his 18 home runs came with runners on base...Hit .302 with 12 of his 18 home runs and a .932 OPS at home, .304 with a .794 OPS on the road...Had a .330 batting average at night, .197 in 15 day games...Batted .366 in the eighth inning or later...Started 46 games at catcher, 27 at designated hitter and 12 at first base…committed six errors, all at catcher (.985 fielding percentage)…opponents were 59-for-75 (78.7%) in stolen bases attempts with him behind the plate...Also made the first three pitching appearances of his career and did not allow a run (3.1 ip, 6 h, 2 so)...Was 0-for-4 with a walk as a pinch hitter...Started games at every spot in the order except first and second…hit .299 with eight home runs and 35 RBI in 33 starts hitting clean-up and .333 in 26 starts batting fifth...Was named winner of the Mayor’s Trophy, which is voted on by Aviators fans.
2022
Batted .320 with six home runs, 38 RBI and an .826 OPS in 65 games with Triple-A Round Rock....Struck out 32 times in 267 plate appearances, an average of 8.34 plate appearances per strikeout....His batting average broke down to .354 (63-for-178) with all six of his home runs and a .934 OPS against right-handed hitters compared to .240 (18-for-75) with a .572 OPS against lefthanded hitters...Had a .243 average with the bases empty but hit .410 with runners on base…had a .377 average with runners in scoring position....Batted .222 with a home run, seven RBI and a .578 OPS over his first 15 games through April 28, .413 with five home runs, 27 RBI and a 1.074 OPS over his next 30 games from April 30 to Aug. 28 and .244 with no home runs, four RBI and a .609 OPS over his final 20 contests beginning Aug. 30....Hit .355 with a .921 OPS on the road, .278 with a .713 OPS at home....batted .356 in 11 day games, .313 with all six of his home runs at night....Started 28 games at catcher, 24 at designated hitter and 10 at first base…opponents were successful in 31-of-34 (91.2%) stolen base attempts with him behind the plate…committed six errors as a catcher (.981 fielding percentage) and one as a first baseman (.983)....Was 2-for-2 with a double and three RBI as a pinch hitter...Started games at every spot in the order except first and ninth and saw his most action with 28 starts in the cleanup spot....Got off to a slow start as he batted .241 with a home run and seven RBI in 16 games in April…then hit .412 with two home runs and 13 RBI in 16 games in May…matched his career high with three doubles on May 1 at Salt Lake…went 4-for-6 with four runs scored and four RBI on May 6 at Reno…the four runs matched his most as a minor leaguer (June 29, 2016 vs. the Reds)…had another four-hit game on May 15 against Oklahoma City…reached base safely in 23 consecutive games from May 18 to Aug. 31…batted .389 with a .423 on-base percentage over that span…began the stretch with a 10-game hitting streak from May 18 to June 2 (16-for-43, .372), went 0-for-2 with two walks on June 3 against Oklahoma City, and then hit safely in 12 consecutive games from June 4 to Aug. 31 (19-for-45, .422)…went 7-for-13 with five doubles, a home run and seven RBI over a three-game stretch from June 4 to 9…was batting .346 with five home runs and 29 RBI in 41 games when he was placed on the temporary inactive list June 14…was reinstated on Aug. 20 and hit .275 with a home run and nine RBI in 24 games following his return…hit safely in eight straight games from Sept. 9-18 (13-for-34, .382) but then went 2-for-20 (.100) over his final five contests.
2021
Batted .284/.312/.378/.690 (21-74) with one home run and 9 RBI in 21 games/19 starts during his lone stint with Texas (8/13-9/16), his first big league action…had his contract selected from Round Rock (AAA) on 8/13 and went 2-for-4 with a go-ahead 3-run HR in his MLB debut that night vs. OAK, just the 10th batter in TEX history to homer in his ML debut…17 of his 19 starts came as DH, but also made 2 starts behind the plate…batted .375 (12-32) over 10 G in September and was optioned to Round Rock on 9/17. ROUND ROCK IN 2021: Posted career highs in nearly every offensive category at Triple-A, slashing .337/.352/.622/.974 (106-315) with 23 HR and 74 RBI in 77 G for the Express, the 2nd-most HR among TEX farmhands (29-Blaine Crim)…ranked among the Triple-A West’s top 10 in HR (T7th, 23) and RBI (9th, 74), and posted the 4th-highest BA of any player at Triple-A (min. 300 PA)…named a Texas Organization All-Star by MLB Pipeline.
2020
Did not see official game action after the minor league season was canceled due to the pandemic…was not named to the club’s Alternate Training Site roster at any point…after the season, he elected free agency on Nov. 1 and was signed by San Diego as a minor league free agent on Nov. 13…after less than a month in the San Diego organization, he returned to the Rangers after being selected by the club in the second round of the Minor League (Triple-A) phase of the Rule 5 Draft on Dec. 10.
2019
Made a team-high 68 starts at catcher for High-A Down East…threw out 30-of-74 (40.5%) attempted base stealers.
2018
Was named to the South Atlantic League Midseason All-Star team at Single-A Hickory… led the team and tied for eighth in the SAL with 29 doubles…was named a Rangers Organizational All-Star by MiLB.com.
2017
Combined to bat .323 with four home runs and 25 RBI in 54 games with Hickory and Short-Season Spokane…was promoted to Hickory on July 5.
2016
Was named to the Arizona League Postseason All-Star team with the Rookie level Rangers…tied for the league lead with 62 hits and ranked among the circuit leaders in batting average (3rd, .343), total bases (6th, 81), OPS (6th, .830), and OBP (7th, .382).
2015
Returned to the Rangers Dominican Summer League squad for the second consecutive season and hit .272 with a home run and 24 RBI in 63 games.
2014
Hit .273 with 29 RBI in 50 games for the Rangers affiliate in the Dominican Summer League in his professional debut.
