Kansas City Royals Add Former Red Sox, Nationals Catcher on Minor League Deal

León, who is set to turn 35 years old in March, got his start by signing with the Washington Nationals out of Venezuela in 2007. He made his MLB debut in 2012 and played 34 games across his first three big league campaigns.

The Boston Red Sox traded for León just ahead of the 2015 season, and it didn't take him long to carve out a role as the club's go-to backup backstop.

From 2015 to 2019, León appeared in 358 games for the Red Sox, batting .224 with 24 home runs, 118 RBI, a .622 OPS and a 2.4 WAR. León made three appearances in the 2018 World Series, helping Boston emerge victorious over the Los Angeles Dodgers with a .500 batting average and 1.238 OPS in seven plate appearances.

León was traded to the Cleveland Indians in late 2019, and he became a free agent following the 2020 season. The Miami Marlins gave León a minor league contract that offseason, and he ultimately appeared in 83 games for the MLB club in 2021.

After splitting 2022 with the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians and Minnesota Twins, León joined the Texas Rangers on a minor league deal to start 2023. He got some time on the big league roster, then got let go and spent the rest of the season back in the Guardians' farm system.

The Royals are entering 2024 with All-Star slugger Salvador Perez as their starting catcher once again, while Freddy Fermin is set to be his backup. León is one of a handful of other catchers with non-roster invites to Spring Training, at which point he will need to stand out from the crowd in order to keep the big leagues within reach this year.

León is a .208 hitter for his career, putting up 31 home runs, 149 RBI, 322 hits, a .586 OPS and a 0.5 WAR in 554 major league outings.