Dodgers Acquire Catcher José Lobáton from the Seattle Mariners
The Dodgers have acquired 34-year-old catcher José Lobáton from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for cash considerations.
#Dodgers acquired catcher José Lobáton from #Mariners for cash considerations. He has been assigned to OKC.
— . (@THEREAL_DV) August 9, 2019
He was eligible to be traded since he was not on the Mariners’ 40-man roster.
Lobáton will report to the Oklahoma City Dodgers and provide depth for the organization. Their depth was recently weakened as top prospect catcher Keibert Ruiz broke his finger and catcher Rocky Gale was traded to the Tampa Bay Rays at the deadline.
He is a career .215/.293/.319 hitter with 21 home runs and a 70 wRC+ over 1,278 plate appearances.
Originally signed as an international free agent by the San Diego Padres in 2012, Lobáton’s longest stretch in the bigs was with the Washington Nationals as he appeared in 200 games over 4 seasons (2014-2017) in the Nation’s capital. During that time, he complied a .210/.281/.307 triple slash line, with 12 of his 21 career dingers and 51 of his 107 career RBI.
Lobáton most recently appeared in the majors last season with the New York Mets. In 22 games for them, he hit .143/.246/.224. His best season came with the Rays in 2013 when he hit .249/.320/.394 with a 101 wRC+ and 1.7 WAR in 100 games.
He will likely serve as a backup to Austin Barnes while in Triple-A.
No real comments needed at this time. I do recall he hit a HR in 2016 NLDS as a member of the Nationals against the Dodgers.
Russell Martin has to be on the World Series team like Kemp and Eithier got to be