MLB Player News

Leon enters spring training as Boston's starting catcher, according to manager John Farrell, Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reports.

Farrell recognizes the breakout season Leon enjoyed in 2016, when he had an .845 OPS and seven homers, but it doesn't take an advanced degree in statistics to expect a massive correction for the catcher that had a career OPS of .483 prior to 2016. If Leon's bat resembles what we saw in September -- he hit .216/.280/.257/.537 during the month -- he'll lose the starting job to either Christian Vazquez or Blake Swihart.

Vazquez picked up an additional 122 at-bats in 37 games during winter league ball in the Roberto Clemente League in Puerto Rico.

Vazquez caught several games a week in Puerto Rico, getting a chance to test his throwing arm, which underwent Tommy John elbow surgery in 2015. He reported not feeling the lingering discomfort he felt last season. The 26-year-old catcher is looking for a fresh start in 2017 after last season's odyssey of stops and starts that eventually led to an extended stay in Triple-A. He's out of options this season, which works in his favor as the Red Sox can stash Blake Swihart in the minors while Vazquez and Sandy Leon handle the major-league pitching staff. Of course, Vazquez's bat will be a factor. He worked on rehabilitating his swing late last season with hitting coach Rich Gedman and had an .805 OPS during the month of August, but that dropped to .653 during the regular season in Puerto Rico.

Bethancourt is targeting early March for his Cactus League pitching debut, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

The Padres have been working with the catcher on his pitching mechanics, and recently clocked his fastball at 97 mph during a Panama Winter League game. Although the Padres have been unclear about his role going forward, his powerful arm could see him in the bullpen more often than expected. Last year with the Padres, the 25-year-old pitched 1.2 scoreless innings in two games and slashed .228/.265/.368 in 204 plate appearances.

Sanchez announced Tuesday that he will not play in the upcoming World Baseball Classic, Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record reports.

Sanchez had been planning to play for the Dominican Republic but ultimately changed his mind. He wants a full spring with his teammates to prepare for the start of the regular season. His power pace from last season (20 homers in 229 plate appearances) is not sustainable, but he is arguably the Yankees' best hitter (171 wRC+) and it seems likely he will be in the three-hole four days a week at a minimum.

Perez spent most of January training with Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, an eight-time Gold Glove Award winner, on the mental aspects of catching, Zack Meisel of Cleveland.com reports.

Perez will compete with Yan Gomes for playing time in 2017. With the latter having dealt with lingering shoulder issues, strong defense could be Perez's path to more playing time. Perez has dealt with his own health problems though, as a broken thumb cost the 28-year-old nearly half the 2016 campaign. The battle for starting catcher duties will be one to monitor this spring, as the draft value of both Perez and Gomes is strongly tied to the fight. Barring injury, the most likely scenario is that the pair breaks camp in some sort of platoon, limiting both of their stocks to begin 2017.

The Reds don't anticipate bringing in another veteran catcher, instead relying on Barnhart and Devin Mesoraco's return from injury.

That likely rules out free agent Matt Wieters. Mesoraco's status is still up in the air - he's on track with his rehab but hasn't been rigorously tested yet. So that means that Barnhart could still have a pretty heavy workload in 2017.

Perez is expected to serve in the same backup role he acted in last season.

The 26-year-old backstop didn't bring much to the plate in 291 plate appearances last year, slashing a meager .209/.244/.325. While the newly-acquired Martin Maldonado isn't much better with his bat, he possesses plus defensive skills behind the plate, making him the favorite to start over Perez. Neither catcher will have much value out of the gates.

Barnes is the favorite to win the backup catcher job out of spring training.

Barnes didn't do much in his limited playing time last season, slashing a meager .156/.270/.188 in 37 plate appearances. That was a small sample size, and there is hope for his bat after he slashed .295/.380/.443 with Triple-A Oklahoma City last season. With Carlos Ruiz gone, Barnes will handle primary backup duties for Yasmani Grandal.

Narvaez is expected to be one of the two catchers on the White Sox Opening Day roster. In 34 games last season, including a majority of the starts down the stretch, Narvaez hit .267/.350/.337.

The White Sox had some injuries at catcher and were forced to call up Narvaez sooner than anticipated. He held his own at the plate while effectively managing the staff and management feels he's earned a shot based on his performance. However, the White Sox decision-makers are also cognizant of his relative inexperience, bringing in 34-year-old veteran Geovany Soto, who stands a good chance to share the job with the soon-to-be 25-year-old Narvaez. The position could certainly use an upgrade, but with 2017 shaping up to be a rebuilding season on the south side, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn is filling the gap until Zack Collins, the No. 10 overall pick in the 2016 draft, is ready for duty.

Thaiss received an invitation to major league spring training Thursday.

This comes as no surprise, as Thaiss has established himself as one of the Halos' top prospects following a strong professional debut that saw him make the leap to Low-A and hold his own. The 21-year-old will likely start 2017 either at Low-A or High-A, but if he continues to display outstanding plate discipline while batting in the upper-.200s, he could move up further in the organization by the end of the season.