White Sox Claim Jake Rogers

The White Sox have claimed catcher Jake Rogers off waivers from the Red Sox, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Boston designated him for assignment earlier this week. Chicago has a full 40-man roster and will need to open a spot for this claim. Rogers is out of options, so he’ll also need an active roster spot once he reports to the team.

Rogers, 31, is a veteran backstop with a well-known profile at this point. He’s strong with the pads on but his offense is less reliable. He has big power but also strikes out a lot, which can tamp down his production from the batter’s box.

In almost 3,000 innings behind the plate, Rogers has been credited with 12 Defensive Runs Saved and has a Fielding Run Value of 10. His career framing numbers are above average with FanGraphs, Statcast and Baseball Prospectus. With the bat, he has 47 home runs in 1,224 plate appearances but has also struck out in 31.7% of those trips to the plate. He has a .199/.272/.381 career line and 79 wRC+.

Most of those stats were accrued with the Tigers. Detroit now has Dillon Dingler established as the catcher of the future. They recently decided to give Eduardo Valencia some run as the backup, which nudged Rogers into DFA limbo in late July. The Orioles, who were managing the injury absences of Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo, traded for him.

A few days later, the O’s made a blockbuster trade, sending Rutschman to the Red Sox with Carlos Narváez going to Baltimore alongside several prospects. The Red Sox got Rogers in that deal but apparently only to hold down the fort until Rutschman was ready to return. Once Rutschman came off the IL, Rogers was sent into DFA limbo again.

For the Sox, they came into this season with Kyle Teel as their primary catcher but he is looking at 2026 being a mostly lost season. Teel missed most of the first half due to hamstring and knee issues. He came off the IL in June, played poorly for 19 games and then returned to the IL with a left ankle sprain. As of about three weeks ago, he was expected to miss 6-12 weeks.

The Sox tried to address their catching situation by acquiring Joey Bart from Atlanta at the deadline. Unfortunately, in just his third game after that deal, Bart was hit on the hand by a pitch and suffered a fracture.

Chicago was left with an uninspiring duo of Drew Romo and Edgar Quero behind the plate. With the deadline now in the past, another trade wasn’t possible, so they have turned to the waiver wire instead. Rogers has arrived just in time to face his former team, as the Sox and Tigers begin a three-game set in Detroit tonight.

Rogers is making $3.05MM this year, leaving about $717K still to be paid out. The Sox will absorb that cost to add a veteran backstop to their roster. Both Romo and Quero have options, so one of them could be sent down for Rogers. If Teel or Bart can get healthy, perhaps Rogers could get the DFA treatment once more, but the Sox could also opt to have both Romo and Quero optioned to the minors.