The Red Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran catcher Tomás Nido. Nick John of Talk Sox was the first to report the deal. Nido will give Boston some catching depth at a time when deadline acquisition Adley Rutschman has been banged up.
Nido, 32, is a quality defender who’s spent the bulk of his career in the Mets organization. He played parts of eight major league seasons there and has since seen brief stops in the majors with the Cubs and Tigers. He’s a glove-first backup with a lifetime .215/.249/.310 batting line in the majors (54 wRC+).
Although Nido doesn’t provide much with the bat, he’s graded as an elite framer with good blocking skills. Nido struggled with his throwing earlier in his career, particularly in 2019 when he went just 3-for-37 in thwarting stolen base attempts. He’s improved dramatically over the years, sitting on a 25.5% caught-stealing rate dating back to the 2021 season.
Nido spent the first several months of the 2026 season with the Tigers organization but didn’t get a call to the majors, where Dillon Dingler broke out as a star and Eduardo Valencia emerged as a high-end backup. Detroit released Nido last month after he’d posted a .236/.317/.368 slash in 166 plate appearances with the organization’s top affiliate in Toledo. He’s been a free agent since.
Rutschman was on the injured list due to a wrist issue when the Red Sox acquired him. He’s since returned but is now day-to-day with what’s been described as a minor elbow injury. The switch-hitting Rutschman has struggled out of the gate in his new environs, batting only .146/.255/.244 with Boston. That’s a small sample of 12 games and 47 plate appearances, to be clear, and Rutschman carried a strong .251/.331/.433 line at the time of the trade.
Boston is carrying three catchers with Connor Wong and infielder/catcher Mickey Gasper both on the major league roster. The latter has been used far more at DH than at catcher this season, however. Jason Delay and Nate Baez are the top backstops in Triple-A, the former coming with a just over two years of major league service. Nido is the best defender among Boston’s crew of backup options, so he could get a look at some point if Rutschman or Wong needs a spell on the injured list.
