The Phillies announced on Tuesday that they had hired veteran catcher Jeff Mathis for a minor league deal and invited him to spring Major League training. Phils also confirmed previously reported non-escalation invitations for veterans Happy Neftali, Brandon Kintzler, Bryan Mitchell, Ivan Nova, Hector Rondon, Michael Ynoa, Ronald Torreyes, Travis Jankowski and Matt Joyce. Mathis, a Jet Sports Management customer, would earn $ 1.8 million if he made the list, tweets Jon Heyman of MLB Network.
Mathis, 38 in March, just ended a two-year season with the Rangers. He didn’t hit Texas well, but the Rangers certainly didn’t expect him to supply anything with the bat. Mathis hit 0.207 / 0.274 / 0.297 in the previous two seasons with the D-backs and yet he signed a two-year contract almost exclusively for his defensive skill behind the plate.
Long considered one of the best defensive catchers in the game, Mathis will go to Spring Training with the Phillies as the veteran mentor par excellence for the youngest players on the team. It seems hard to imagine him breaking the opening day list with JT Realmuto re-signed a new five-year agreement, Andrew Knapp the likely backup and a third receiver, Rafael Marchan, on the list of 40 men. But Mathis can work with Knapp and Marchan, 22, on his defensive aptitude behind the base and has no shortage of veteran insights to share with the pitching team after spending the past 16 seasons at Majors.
Mathis appeared in 945 Major League games and accounted for 3006 plate appearances between Angels, Blue Jays, Marlins, D-backs and Rangers. He is just a .194 / .253 / .300 hitter at that time, but at the height he controlled the racing game brilliantly and was among the best in the league in terms of field framing and blocking balls on the ground.
As you might expect from a player when he reaches 30, Mathis has seen his defensive rating drop in recent years, but he made it clear in September that he hoped to continue his playing career and the Phillies are giving him the opportunity to do so. Mathis can always go to Triple-A Lehigh Valley if he doesn’t make the Opening Day list, and it is common for veterans of this nature to have multiple exit dates on unsecured deals, allowing them to return to the market near the end of the camp ( and / or at the beginning of the regular season) if they have not been added to the Major League list.