Blue Jays outright Ali Sanchez

Catcher Ali Sanchez has been sent outright to Triple-A Buffalo, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. He has the right to elect free agency though it’s not currently clear if he will exercise that right.

Sánchez, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Jays in the offseason. He started the year with 28 Triple-A games, hitting five home runs to produce a solid .253/.324/.440 line and 104 wRC+ in those contests.

The Blue Jays have had Alejandro Kirk and Tyler Heineman as their big league catching duo for most of the year, with no other backstops on the 40-man roster. Heineman required a stint on the concussion-related injured list late last month, so Sánchez was called up. He was on the roster for just over a week, getting into five games and receiving 11 plate appearances. He struck out three times and got two hits, one of them being a double. Since he is out of options, he essentially had to be designated for assignment when Heineman was reinstated.

Now that he has cleared waivers, he has the right to elect free agency since he has previously been outrighted in his career. The Jays are probably hoping he will stick around, either by accepting the assignment or signing a new minor league deal after electing free agency. The Jays are once again down to just two catchers on the 40-man roster, so having non-roster depth will be important. They also have Christian Bethancourt at the Triple-A level but he just spent a few weeks on the minor league IL. Phil Clarke is putting up decent numbers for the Bisons but has no major league experience.

Sánchez has generally produced decent offensive numbers in the minors, with a .269/.348/.423 line and 96 wRC+ dating back to the start of 2022. He hasn’t hit well in the majors, with a .176/.217/.222 line, but has only received 121 plate appearances scattered across multiple seasons dating back to 2020. Baseball Prospectus has generally given him strong grades for his Triple-A defense.