Blue Jays Claim Shawn Ross

The Blue Jays announced that catcher Shawn Ross was claimed off waivers from the Mets, and assigned to Triple-A Buffalo.  New York designated Ross for assignment two days ago.

Ross began his pro career as an undrafted free agent with the Pirates in 2022, and his tenure in Pittsburgh culminated with his first two MLB games on July 25-26 of this season.  On July 27, however, the Pirates designated Ross for assignment, and he was claimed by the Mets.  The backstop’s time with the Amazins saw Ross play just for Triple-A Syracuse, and he’ll now find himself riding the waiver wire again for the second time in as many months.

Ross has hit .189/.321/.413 with 53 homers over 1075 plate appearances during his minor league career, which includes seven home runs and a .117/.296/.323 slash line in 293 PA at the Triple-A level.  The key stat is Ross’ whopping 38.51% strikeout rate as a minor leaguer, so between all these whiffs, his decent power, and 14.9% walk rate, Ross is something of a three-true-outcomes player.  Within Ross’ tiny sample size of five PA in the majors, he struck out twice and launched a two-run homer for the only hit of his brief big league career.

With Alejandro Kirk and Brandon Valenzuela set as the Jays’ catching combo, Ross joins CJ Stubbs as the only other catchers in Toronto’s organization with any MLB experience.  Ross also has two years of minor league options remaining, giving the Blue Jays some flexibility over his future usage.  If the Jays’ coaching staff can get Ross’ strikeout problems down to an even somewhat acceptable level, he offers some interesting power potential as a depth option.