Now a 33-year-old journeyman catcher, Mike Rivera was originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Detroit Tigers in 1997. He made his major league debut with those Tigers on September 18, 2001 getting into four games. In 2002 he spent the bulk of his playing time in triple-A, but also played 39 days in Detroit.
After the 2002 season, Rivera was traded to the San Diego Padres for Gene Kingsale. He only played in 19 games for the Padres that season before getting picked up on waivers by the Chicago White Sox on June 9, 2003. He never played in the majors for the White Sox and spent the 2004 season in the Athletics organization after again getting claimed off of waivers. Finally a free agent in 2005 he signed with the Detroit Tigers who released him after spring training when he didn’t make the opening day roster.
That turned out to be a big break though for Rivera. He spent the entire 2005 season stuck in triple-A again, but in 2006 he finally made it back to the big l...
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