Blue Jays Sign Christian Bethancourt, Richard Lovelady To Minor League Deals

The Blue Jays announced Wednesday that they’ve signed catcher Christian Bethancourt and left-hander Richard Lovelady to minor league contracts. Both players have been invited to major league camp during spring training.

Bethancourt, 33, had a decent showing at the plate as recently as 2022, when he slashed .252/.283/.409 (99 wRC+) with 11 homers in 101 games between the A’s and Rays. His bat has tanked since that time, with a combined .220/.250/.377 between Tampa Bay, Miami and Chicago (Cubs).

Once one of the game’s top-100 prospects, Bethancourt has never really found his footing as a big league regular. He moved on from catching entirely at one point, attempting to reinvent himself as a reliever, but he’s now spent several years back behind the plate. He’s a lifetime .229/.259/.367 hitter in the big leagues.

While that offense (or lack thereof) leaves plenty to be desired, Bethancourt has controlled the running game quite nicely thanks to a rocket arm that received 80 grades (on the 20-80 scale) during his prospect days. As the average caught-stealing rate has dropped to just 20.3% leaguewide following tweaks to the size of the bases and limits on pickoff attempts, Bethancourt has excelled. He thwarted 30% of stolen base attempts against him last year. Dating back to 2022, Bethancourt boasts a gaudy 29.9% caught-stealing rate. Over the past four seasons, only J.T. Realmuto, Patrick Bailey and Gabriel Moreno have contributed more value with their throwing, among catchers, per Statcast.

Bethancourt won’t be in the mix for the starting job in Toronto. That belongs to Alejandro Kirk. But the Jays’ only other catcher on the 40-man roster right now is journeyman Tyler Heineman, who has a .212/.298/.273 slash in 299 career plate appearances in the majors. Bethancourt could very well be in the mix for that spot, though time will tell if the Jays bring in a more established veteran to solidify that critical role. As it stands, an injury to Kirk would leave Toronto with Heineman and one of Bethancourt or fellow non-roster invitee Ali Sanchez as manager John Schneider’s top options behind the dish.

Lovelady, 29, split the 2024 season between the Cubs and Rays, struggling with the former but pitching pretty well for the latter. The southpaw gave Tampa Bay 28 2/3 innings of 3.77 ERA ball, albeit with a sub-par 16.8% strikeout rate. Lovelady’s 7.6% walk rate and 53.5% ground-ball rate were both strong marks, however, and the lefty has long shown an interesting blend of missed bats and grounders to go along with solid command.

Even with a decent showing for Tampa Bay, Lovelady was cut loose in November. The Rays designated him for assignment to open roster space for outfielder Jake Mangum, whom they wanted to protect from the Rule 5 Draft. Lovelady was non-tendered rather than traded or placed on waivers, immediately making him a free agent.

In 99 1/3 big league innings, Lovelady has a 21.1% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 50.9% grounder rate. He’s still been tagged for a 4.98 earned run average, thanks in large part to a 66% strand rate, but metrics like xFIP (4.27) and SIERA (4.02) have been more bullish than ERA. He’ll now try to catch on in Toronto, where the only lefty relievers on the 40-man roster are the inexperienced trio of Brendon Little, Easton Lucas and Josh Walker. Prospect Adam Macko also throws left-handed, but the Jays hope his future is in the rotation.