Former A's catcher signs with Atlanta Braves

Jason Burke | Nov 14, 2024

Feb 23, 2023; Mesa, AZ, USA; Oakland Athletics catcher Yohel Pozo (31) poses for a portrait during spring training photo day at HoHoKam Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-Imagn Images / Allan Henry-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Braves have signed former A's minor league catcher Yohel Pozo to a minor-league deal, according to the MiLB.com transactions page. The 27-year-old native of Maracaibo, Venezuela spent the past two seasons in the A's system.

Pozo was originally signed by the Texas Rangers way back in 2013, and made his MLB debut in 2021, getting into a total of 21 games and performed fairly well in the opportunity he was given, going 21-for-74 (.284) with a .312 OBP and one home run. He elected free agency following the 2022 season and signed on with the Athletics.

In each of the past two spring trainings, Pozo has been firmly in the mix to be the A's backup catcher behind former Braves prospect Shea Langeliers, but in 2023 the team opted to go with Carlos Pérez given his experience with the roster, and in 2024 they went with Kyle McCann, a former fourth round pick that was due an opportunity. If McCann didn't get one this past season, the question was always going to be when that opportunity would arise.

That left Pozo out of the mix, unfortunately, but he still put up big numbers in the minors, hitting over .300 in each season (.306 and .324) with on-base numbers around .335 and home run totals of 18 and 15. He's not big on walks or strikeouts, drawing a total of seven bases on balls in 90 games last season, good for a walk rate of just 1.9%, while also holding a single digit strikeout rate of 8.3%. Pozo knows how to make contact, and judging by the stat line, it's usually pretty good contact.

One of the most interesting tidbits with Pozo is that he has served as the position player pitcher on numerous occasions for Las Vegas, getting into 11 games over the past two seasons. In 2023 he worked a total of 3 1/3 scoreless innings across three games, giving up six hits and striking out two. That same magic didn't exist in 2024. After a scoreless one-out first appearance, Pozo was tagged for four runs on two hits and two walks in an inning of work against Tacoma. He then gave up another run over 1 1/3 innings a few months later, giving him a career ERA of 7.50.

What are the chances that Atlanta is going full galaxy brain here and adding Pozo, not because of his bat, but because of his pitching ability? Could he rocket through the system like David Fletcher did in 2024?

Just in case the Braves front office is curious, he was throwing an eephus and a fastball, splitting the usage to mix things up, and sat between 54 and 76 miles per hour on the heater. The eephus was between 30-39 mph. Maybe he gets really good extension and that 39 feels like 42.

Pozo will be joining Matt Olson, Sean Murphy, Ramón Laureano, the recently-acquired Nick Allen, and the recently re-acquired Royber Salinas in Atlanta's organization. With the departure of Travis d'Arnaud, there is a chance that a backup opportunity could become available at some point during the 2025 campaign.