CINCINNATI – The Braves signed veteran catcher Wil Nieves to a minor league contract, and immediately there was plenty of Internet speculation about implications of the move: Might they be planning to send Christian Bethancourt to Triple-A to get more seasoning, since he's played fewer games than veteran A.J. Pierzynski?
Or maybe they were planning to trade Pierzysnki?
No, and no. A Braves official said the Nieves signing was strictly done to increase catching depth in the minor league system. He was assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett and Matt Kennelly was transferred to Double-A Mississippi.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said before batting practice Wednesday at Cincinnati that he wasn’t even aware the Braves had signed Nieves, 37, who was designated for assignment by the Padres, cleared waivers, and elected to become a free agent rather than accept an outright minor league assignment.
“We haven’t talked about making any moves with our catching up here – ever,” Gonzalez said, pretty much quashing any notion of the Braves having any plans to move Nieves on the major league roster.
Bethancourt, 23, hit just .173 with four doubles, four RBIs and a .204 on-base percentage and .250 slugging percentage before Wednesday, when he made his 15th start in the series finale against the Reds.
Pierzysnki, 38, has hit .311 with six extra-base hits (three homers), 14 RBIs and a .341 OBP and .473 slugging percentage in 19 starts.
But in May, Bethancourt was 4-for-15 (.267) with two doubles, and Pierzynski was 4-for-29 (.138) with no extra-base hits. Pierzynski was signed this winter to be the backup and mentor to Bethancourt, but Pierzysnki hit so well in April — team highs of .422 average and 14 RBIs in 12 games — that he ended up being the primary catcher for a few weeks.
The Braves need to decide whether they think Bethancourt, the long-time top prospect, is going to become the catcher he’s been projected to be, and sending him back to Triple-A to play every day would accomplish nothing in that regard.
Long considered an outstanding defensive catcher, Nieves was 1-for-13 with one walk and four strikeouts in six games for the Padres, the one hit a grand slam in his season debut April 12 off the Giants’ Jake Peavy. Coincidentally, it was Peavy whom he caught when Nieves made his major league debut with the Padres in 2002.
He pitched for six other major league teams and numerous minor league teams – including the Braves’ Triple-A Gwinnett affiliate in 2011 — before returning to the Padres on a minor league contract in January. He got the big-league backup job when Tim Federowicz, had knee surgery.
Nieves had gone 0-for-9 in five games since since the grand-slam game before being designated for assignment by the Padres. He cleared waivers and elected to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate.
Nieves has a .241 career average and .281 on-base percentage with 10 homers in 1,260 plate appearances in parts of 12 seasons in the majors. He hit .297 with one homer and 22 RBIs in 71 games (206 plate appearances) in 2013 with Arizona.
