Phillies Sign Mark Kolozsvary To Minor League Deal

The Phillies have signed catcher Mark Kolozsvary to a minor league contract, The Athletic’s Will Sammon reports.  The deal contains an invitation for Kolozsvary to attend Philadelphia’s big league spring camp.

Kolozsvary has played in only 11 Major League games, and none since the 2023 season.  Rafael Marchan and Garrett Stubbs are the only other catchers in the Phillies organization with any big league playing time at all, so the 30-year-old Kolozsvary adds some experience to the depth chart.  J.T. Realmuto’s continued stay in free agency remains the biggest question hanging over the Phillies’ catching situation, but given how Marchan and Stubbs also haven’t shown much at the MLB level, adding another catcher to the Spring Training backup competition was likely on the Phils’ to-do list with or without Realmuto back in the fold.

A seventh-round pick for the Reds in the 2017 draft, Kolozsvary’s time with his original team culminated in 10 MLB games and 21 plate appearances during the 2022 season.  The Orioles claimed Kolozsvary off waivers from Cincinnati following the 2022 campaign, and Kolozsvary ended up making a single appearance as a late-game defensive sub during a brief stay on Baltimore’s active roster in June 2023.  The O’s designated him for assignment shortly thereafter and Kolozsvary caught on with the Twins on a minor league deal, and he then spent the 2024-25 seasons playing in the Red Sox farm system.

Kolozsvary has a reputation as a very solid defensive catcher, which has helped him extend his career despite a modest .194/.309/.338 slash line over 407 plate appearances at the Triple-A level (let alone his .200/.238/.450 slash in the small sample size of his 21 PA with the Reds).

Kolozsvary has two minor league options remaining, which is a notable detail because both Marchan and Stubbs are out of options.  While the Phillies avoided arbitration with Marchan and Stubbs by signing them to guaranteed salaries for the 2026 season, neither contract is expensive, and Stubbs’ deal is a split contract.  This opens the door for Kolozsvary to possibly supplant Stubbs as the top depth catcher, though the Phillies’ catching mix remains fluid as long as Realmuto remains unsigned.