Cardinals utilityman Taylor Motter has been sent outright to Triple-A Memphis, according to the transaction tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he went unclaimed on waivers after being designated for assignment on Saturday.
Motter has had a rather eventful time in the St. Louis organization since signing a minor league contract last November. He broke camp out of Spring Training, securing a season-opening bench spot with Paul DeJong on the injured list. When DeJong was reinstated three weeks into the year, Motter was DFA. He cleared waivers and was outrighted to Memphis, but the Cards apparently didn’t want to risk losing him to minor league free agency. St. Louis re-signed him to a major league deal within hours of the outright, optioning top prospect Jordan Walker to create roster space.
That second stint on the MLB roster proved briefer than the first. Motter lost his spot again within two weeks as the Cards added a third catcher to push Willson Contreras to designated hitter over the weekend. The right-handed hitting Motter has played in just eight games for St. Louis overall. He’s managed a .200/.273/.300 line in 22 trips to the plate. Motter has played for seven big league clubs in parts of six seasons. The 33-year-old sports a .191/.263/.309 slash in 169 MLB contests.
As was the case last time around, Motter will now decide whether to report to Memphis. He’s been outrighted multiple times in his career and thus has the ability to test the open market each time he clears waivers. A career .262/.352/.482 hitter in Triple-A, Motter would certainly be able to find minor league interest elsewhere were he to look to free agency.
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