The Houston Astros are looking to replenish their position player depth this winter, following a season with an inexplicably high rate of injuries.

Behind the plate, Houston has to be satisfied with Yainer Diaz as the starting catcher, even if he had a down year offensively. But with unproven César Salazar slated to be the current backup, it won’t hurt to enter spring training with a few more experienced options.

For one of those options, Houston nabbed a player with five years of big-league experience — just not a lot of recent ones.

Carlos Pérez, the 35-year-old journeyman who spent the season on a minor-league deal with the Chicago Cubs, agreed to a new minor-league deal with the Astros, per the transactions log on his MLB.com roster page. The deal was signed on Friday, but did not appear on the log for several days thereafter.

Pérez is the definition of a grinder, as he’s played at least one minor-league game in every season since 2008, with the obvious exception of 2020, when the season was canceled for all affiliate leagues. He was a rookie at the big-league level in 2015, but after getting dropped by the Texas Rangers at the end of the 2018 season, he’s played just one other stint in the majors (2023 with the Oakland Athletics).

In total, Pérez has played for eight major league organizations: the Toronto Blue Jays, Astros (this will be his second stint), Los Angeles Angels, Atlanta Braves, Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Athletics (twice), Colorado Rockies, and Cubs.

Also, Pérez has been raking at the Triple-A level for quite some time. He’s hit 27 home runs in back-to-back seasons, and this year, he had a .944 OPS for the Iowa Cubs (who are in the International League, not the offense-dominated Pacific Coast League).

Could there be some offensive firepower left in Pérez’s game waiting to be unleashed against major league pitching? His major league career-high in home runs is six (in 68 games for the A’s two years ago), so perhaps something has clicked during his Triple-A travels.

More MLB: Braves Acquire 27-Year-Old Rookie After Brief Diamondbacks Debut