A free agent he shall not be!

During the 2023 regular season, Luke Maile exhibited above-average proficiency in catching baserunners for the Cincinnati Reds. Additionally, his release time was ranked in the 70th percentile among all catchers in Major League Baseball. Maile, who was merely average at blocking and arm and not exactly the finest pitch-framer in the world, contributed a.307 wOBA and 86 wRC+, which rendered him about as average as it gets for a catcher with the bat (for the record, the league average was.302 wOBA and 89 wRC+).

Considering he earned $1.18 million for the Reds in the prior season, that is not a terrible investment. Furthermore, although it seemed inevitable that he would be eligible for free agency following the conclusion of the World Series, that no longer seems to be the case. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reports that the Reds have pledged a guaranteed $3.5 million to retain Maile for at least the 2024 season, with a club option for him to remain through 2025.

Maile, who attended Covington Catholic High School and is a native of Reds Country, is practically the ideal reserve catcher, even at the rate he will earn in the future. However, the inquiry is whether current starter Tyler Stephenson can regain the form that propelled him to the forefront of the catching community before the injuries prematurely ended his 2022 campaign; his 85 wRC+ and.305 wOBA were in fact lower than Maile’s, which ranked the Reds catching corps 18th in both categories for the entire game.

Luke, welcome back!

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