Veteran catcher Jonathan Lucroy failed to make a talented White Sox roster after an impressive spring, posting a .333/.478/.389 slash line. He’s now a free-agent and looking for a major-league deal.
Sources: Jonathan Lucroy has been released by the Chicago White Sox. He hit .333/.478/.389 this spring and with no shortage of teams needing a catcher, should land with another team soon.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) March 29, 2021
Lucroy was once an All-Star catcher, but those days are long behind him. He last hit .232 with a .660 OPS in 101 games for the Angels and Cubs in 2019 and had a .617 OPS in the year prior. I expect some team lacking depth at the catcher position to take a flier on him, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle at the end of his career, but I have a difficult time believing it will be the Braves.
It looks like Atlanta is done spending this offseason, and they clearly feel confident in Alex Jackson or William Contreras handling the duties of the second catcher. If they didn’t, surely Tyler Flowers, who remains a free-agent as well, would have been brought back. He’s a much better option than Lucroy at this point in their respective careers. The Braves seem to be ready to see exactly what they have in Jackson, and if he struggles, feel confident enough that Contreras can hold is own.
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