CLEVELAND, Ohio — The main reason for spring training is to get pitchers ready for the regular season. Presently, the Guardians have 24 pitchers scheduled to report to Goodyear, Arizona on Feb. 10.
A lot of catchers are needed to take care of all that number of pitchers, and the Guardians added another one Wednesday when they announced the signing of Dom Nunez to a minor league contract with an invitation to big-league camp.
The Guardians currently have three catchers on the 40-man roster in Bo Naylor, Austin Hedges and David Fry. Nunez and Cameron Barstad, another non-roster invitee, make five, but more are expected.
Nunez has spent the last two seasons in Cleveland’s organization. The Rockies’ sixth round pick in 2013 appeared in two games with the Guardians last year, hitting .286 (2 for 7). In 76 games at Triple-A Columbus, Nunez hit .176 (42 for 238) with nine homers, 33 RBI and a .679 OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage).
The left-handed hitting Nunez played in parts of four seasons with the Rockies from 2019-2022.
So far, the Guardians have invited eight players to big-league camp on minor league deals:
Pitchers: Carlos Hernandez, Steven Perez and Codi Heuer.Catchers: Nunez and Barstad.Infielder: Dayan Frias.Outfielders: Wuilfredo Antunez and Stuart Fairchild.
Pitchers, catchers and injured players are scheduled to report to Goodyear on Feb. 10. Position players are scheduled to report on Feb. 15. The mandatory reporting date is Feb. 20.