The Blue Jays have acquired a third-string catcher.

The team announced on Sunday that they’ve acquired Tyler Heineman from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for infielder Vinny Capra. In order to make room on the 40-man roster for Heineman, outfielder Jordan Luplow has been assigned outright to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.

Heineman is a veteran catcher who’s bounced around quite a bit during his career. He signed a minor-league deal with the Blue Jays last March and appeared in 10 games for the team while Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk were injured. Heineman wound up getting selected by the Pirates off of waivers when he was sent down to the minors.

Heineman has played in 85 big-league games with the Miami Marlins, San Francisco Giants, Blue Jays, and Pirates, and has a career slash line of .210/.276/.269 with one home run. He also once threw a scoreless inning in relief when the Giants were badly losing a game to the Oakland A’s during the 2020 season.

The Blue Jays only had two catchers on their 40-man roster and Daulton Varsho was the emergency third-string option, so it makes sense for the team to add some insurance behind the plate. Another advantage of acquiring Heineman is that he can go up and down from Toronto to Buffalo without being exposed to waivers.

Heading back to the Pirates is infielder Vinny Capra. The Blue Jays selected Capra in the 20th round of the 2018 draft and he made his debut with the team last year while Cavan Biggio was dealing with COVID. Capra was removed from the 40-man roster during the off-season and re-signed with the Blue Jays on a minor-league deal.