The Braves traded catcher Christian Bethancourt to the San Diego Padres for right-hander Casey Kelly and 17-year-old catching prospect Ricardo Rodriguez.
Bethancourt was a former elite prospect who struggled in his major league stints with the Braves the past two seasons, and he became expendable when the Braves signed Tyler Flowers to a two-year contract this week to split the catching duties with veteran A.J. Pierzynski, who re-signed with the Braves last month.
Still only 24, Bethancourt was out of minor-league options and could not have been sent to Triple-A without clearing waivers. Rather than lose him on waivers, the Braves looked for the best deal they could get, and there was limited trade interest in Bethancourt.
Kelly, 26, was 0-2 with a 10.32 ERA in three games (two starts) for San Diego in 2015, and has a 2-5 record and 6.69 ERA in nine games (eight starts) in three career major-league stints with the Padres, the others coming in in 2010 and 2012. He’ll compete for a job this spring, general manager John Coppolella said.
Rodriguez is a Venezuelan prospect who hit .266 with two homers, 15 RBIs and a .336 on-base percentage in 30 games (109 at-bats) for two rookie-league teams in 2015. He was rated the No. 30 international prospect by MLB.com after signing with the Padres in 2014.
Kelly has something in common with Bethancourt: Both are former elite prospects who’ve struggled in major league stints in parts of three seasons. The pitcher’s career has been slowed by injuries since Kelly peaked at a No. 24 overall prospect ranking by Baseball America before the 2010 season. He had Tommy John surgery in 2013.
Kelly has a 24-28 record and 3.98 ERA in 108 games (94 starts) over five minor-league seasons, including 2-10 with a 5.16 ERA in 31 games (17 starts) last season in Double-A and Triple-A.
For Bethancourt, this is not at all the way the Braves and their fans anticipated his career in Atlanta culminating a few years ago when he was the Braves’ top-rated prospect and one of the top two catching prospects in baseball. While he has hit plenty in the minors, Bethancourt has just a .219 average with two home runs in 278 plate appearances over 80 major league games, with a .245 OBP, .283 slugging percentage, 60 strikeouts and eight walks.
He was penciled in as the Braves’ primary catcher entering 2015 spring training, but Bethancourt struggled in the spring and the first month of the season. Meanwhile Pierzynski, at 39, was enjoying a late-career offensive resurgence, and his hot bat and work with young Braves pitchers in the spring and during April led manager Fredi Gonzalez to move Pierzynski from backup to the starting role.
Bethancourt was eventually demoted to Triple-A and spent two months there before being returning in September.
Bethancourt’s strength was supposed to be his defense, but while he’s displayed his cannon arm against would-be base stealers, he’s frustrated the Braves with his frequent passed balls and other mistakes behind the plate. He’s had 14 games in just 73 games as a catcher, and his eighth passed balls in 2015 were the fourth-most among NL catchers despite the fact that he caught only 42 games.
