Seby Zavala spent all of the 2025 season at Triple-A after appearing in each of the five previous non-pandemic seasons in MLB.
Now, the 32-year-old veteran will get a chance to return to the big leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The veteran catcher signed a minor league contract with an invitation to the Dodgers’ major league spring training camp, the team announced Monday.
More news: Dodgers Surprisingly Cut World Series Pitcher Days Before Spring Training
Zavala slashed .165/.274/.340 in 75 minor league games in 2025, his first season with the Boston Red Sox. He became a free agent after the season.
Zavala debuted with the Chicago White Sox in 2019, playing 12 games as a rookie. He spent one day on the White Sox’s major league roster during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, but did not appear in a game.
Over the next three seasons, Zavala established himself as the primary backup catcher in Chicago. He had hit seven home runs, and played a career-high 66 games, when he was claimed off waivers by the Arizona Diamondbacks in September 2023.
More news: Dodgers Re-Acquire Member of 2025 World Series Championship Team
After the 2023 season, the Dbacks traded Zavala to the Seattle Mariners in the deal that sent third baseman Eugenio Suarez to Phoenix.
Zavala played only 18 games in Seattle in 2024, hitting .154 (6 for 43). He played another 33 games at Triple-A, hitting .188. Zavala was designated for assignment three times over the course of the season but remained in the Mariners organization each time.
More news: Former Yankees, Cubs Outfielder Retires, Suddenly Returns as Dodgers Coach
Known more for his glove than his bat, Zavala did not earn a major-league call-up even though the Red Sox got a combined .223/.289/.363 slash line from their catchers in 2025.
“I pretty much caught my whole career, my whole life,” he said in a July 2025 interview. “There’s a few years here, there that I played other positions… but yeah, I primarily caught my whole life.”
Zavala joins four other catchers as NRIs in the Dodgers’ spring training camp: Eliezer Alfonzo, Griffin Lockwood-Powell, Nelson Quiroz, and Chuckie Robinson.
For more MLB news, visit Newsweek Sports.