Miami Marlins sign catcher Francisco Cervelli

January 9th, 2020

The Miami Marlins today announced the signing of catcher Francisco Cervelli to a one-year contract for the 2020 season.

Cervelli, a native of Valencia, Venezuela, is a 12-year Major League veteran. The 33-year-old began his career with the New York Yankees from 2008-’14, and has also played for Pittsburgh (2015-’19) and Atlanta (2019).

He has a .269 career batting average over 714 games. He had one of his most productive seasons in 2018 with the Pirates, batting .259 in 104 games, while posting 15 doubles and career highs in home runs (12) and RBI (57). He led Major League catchers with a .376 on-base percentage that season, and was a finalist for the National League Silver Slugger award for catchers.

Cervelli has compiled an impressive 3.83 catcher ERA in 672 career games behind the plate, which ranks 16th among qualified catchers (min. 480 games) since 2008. He has also made just 50 errors in 5441.0 innings, good for a .990 fielding percentage, and has thrown out 23.8 percent of runners attempting to steal.

Cervelli, whose father was born in Italy, played for Team Italy in the 2009 and 2017 World Baseball Classics.

To make room for Cervelli on the 40-man roster, the Marlins designated outfielder Austin Dean for assignment.