Guardians re-sign Dom Nuñez to Minor League deal

The Guardians announced they have re-signed the catcher Dom Nunez to a minor league deal. Sports agency ALIGND also gets an invite to big league spring training with the Guards, just like it did last offseason.

Nuñez, 30 in January, spent the 2024 season with Triple-A Columbus. He played 68 games at that level, taking to the floor 263 times. He struck out on 30% of those trips, certainly a high number, but he also struck out walks at a significant rate of 16%. This led to a .202/.330/.339 batting line and 81 wRC+.

The Guards never needed to call up Nuñez to the majors, using Bo Naylor, Austin Hedges AND David Fry to handle big league catching duties. Fry didn’t recover much in the second half due to elbow problems and this will continue into next year. He underwent a hybrid/internal brace and tendon reconstruction surgery in November, for which he is expected to recover 12 months. He will be able to serve as a designated hitter at some point next year, but he won’t be part of the catching plans.

That effectively leaves Naylor and Hedges as the two backstops on Cleveland’s roster, so the odds of having to use a depth option will perhaps be higher next year, unless they add someone else to the roster later in the winter.

Nuñez didn’t make the majors in 2024 but has big league experience, earning 347 plate appearances with the Rockies from 2019 to 2022. He struck out 34% of the time but also earned free passes at a 12.4% clip. Unlike his 2024 season at Triple-A, the walks haven’t been enough to bring his overall numbers to respectable levels, so he currently has a career batting line of .180/.280/.373 in the majors for a 58 wRC+. His framing received high marks from FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus and Statcast during his brief Major League work in Colorado.

He’s not an overwhelming profile, but for a non-roster catcher he at least has some positive attributes with the ability to take a walk and frame a throw. If the Guards take him to the majors any time next year, he will not yet have qualified for arbitration and will still have an option year, meaning he will be cheap and provide roster flexibility.