As the trade deadline looms just four weeks down the road, the Rays are once again in the market for catching help, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. It’s a familiar stance for Tampa Bay. Rays catchers annually rank near the least productive in the sport. They’ve acquired names like Nick Fortes, Hunter Feduccia, Christian Bethancourt, Alex Jackson, Ben Rortvedt and Matt Thaiss over the past few seasons in an effort to find a low-cost option at the position, but it hasn’t paid dividends.
Fortes and Feduccia have taken every plate appearance behind the dish for Tampa Bay this season. The former is hitting .267/.312/.364. By measure of wRC+, that’s 11% worse than a league-average hitter but right in line with a league-average catcher. It also makes Fortes the second-most productive option the Rays have had behind the plate in a half decade, trailing only Danny Jansen, who popped 11 homers and walked at a near-13% clip in 70 games with the ’25 Rays. Meanwhile, Feduccia is hitting .222/.298/.306. Mike Zunino was the last Ray to post better-than-average offense behind the plate back in 2021.
Dating back to Opening Day 2022, Rays catchers have produced only a .213/.270/.342 batting line. The Guardians and White Sox are the only two teams that have received less offense from their catchers in that time. The Rays tend to have above-average defenders behind the dish, which has at least contributed some value at the position, but it’s been a perennial need for some time now.
The market doesn’t figure to have much in the way of impact catching help available. Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers, an impending free agent, stands as the likeliest catcher to be on then market. The 29-year-old got out to a monster start this season — .295/.408/.541, seven homers, equal walk and strikeout rates (15.6%) — but suffered a fractured hamate in his left hand/wrist back in May. That injury naturally surgery, but Jeffers is on a rehab stint right now and should return before much longer.
Jeffers’ 2026 breakout has drawn plenty of attention, but he’s quietly been one of the game’s best-hitting catchers dating back to 2023. Over his past 1411 major league plate appearances, Jeffers touts a .258/.346/.445 batting line (121 wRC+). The former second-rounder out of UNC Wilmington ranks eighth among qualified catchers in batting average, sixth in on-base percentage and sixth in slugging percentage in that time. Jeffers swatted a career-high 21 homers back in 2024 and was on pace to trounce that mark this season before his injury. He’s earning a reasonable $6.7MM and will have about $2.02MM of that sum still owed at the time of the Aug. 3 deadline.
The Yankees have been tied to Jeffers, and Rosenthal at least implies that Tampa Bay could give them some competition on that front. As long as he’s healthy, Jeffers should be a popular name on this summer’s market, particularly since backup Victor Caratini has exploded with a .291/.372/.524 performance during Jeffers’ absence. That’ll make it easier for the Twins to trade him. Had Jeffers gone the whole season hitting as he was through mid-May, he’d have been a qualifying offer lock, but that seems like a reach now, so the Twins could trade him even though they’re only four games back in the AL Central and 1.5 back in the Wild Card race. (Caratini could be a target, too, though he’s signed through 2027 at $7MM annually, so Minnesota might prefer to maintain some continuity.)
While Jeffers is the most notable rental name available, he probably won’t be the only one. Cincinnati’s Tyler Stephenson is earning a near-identical $6.8MM salary to that of Jeffers. He’s also a 29-year-old impending free agent. Stephenson is having a down season, slashing just .233/.321/.367, but he’s drawing walks at a career-high 11.7% clip and making plenty of hard contact. If the Rays felt his batted-ball metrics were a sign that his career-low 9% homer-to-flyball rate is due for some regression, they could try to buy low. After all, even Stephenson’s poor showing at the plate is better than what they typically get from their catchers.
The Reds started the season hot at 20-11 but have gone just 21-37 since. They’re 14.5 games down in the NL Central standings and seven games back in the NL Wild Card hunt. They’re still “only” seven games under .500, so it’s feasible they get hot and hang around the playoff hunt, but Stephenson isn’t going to be a qualifying offer candidate anyhow, so moving him for a modest return when they’re at best fringe contenders would make sense.
The most appealing name for clubs targeting catchers will be Colorado’s Hunter Goodman. The Rockies are again the National League’s worst team. Goodman is again their best player. He has three seasons of club control remaining beyond the current campaign. In 84 games and 352 plate appearances, he’s already bashed 27 homers. Goodman is hitting .254/.318/.552. Detractors might assume he’s thriving because of his home park, but Goodman is actually hitting just .223/.301/.446 at home compared to a gargantuan .284/.335/.654 on the road. His 32.4% strikeout rate is far too high, but his power more than offsets that flaw. The asking price would be substantial, and Goodman will see some hefty salaries in arbitration, but he’s a natural target for any club in the market for some help behind the plate.
