Detroit Tigers Sign Veteran Free Agent Catcher to Minor League Contract
The Detroit Tigers added some catching depth on Monday, building on a group that is one of the thinnest on the roster.
Detroit signed veteran catcher Brian Serven to a Minor League deal according to a report from Aram Leighton of Just Baseball. The agreement also includes an invite to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee according to Leighton.
The Tigers are the fourth professional organization of Serven's eight-year professional career. Drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the fifth round of the 2016 MLB Draft, he spent six seasons in the Minor Leagues with Colorado's affiliates before making his MLB debut in 2022. Serven played in 62 games for Colorado that season and hit .203 with an OPS of just .593, but he did hit six home runs and 16 RBIs in 205 plate appearances.
In 2023, Serven played in just 11 professional games, spending most of the season in Triple-A. Those 11 games - albeit an extremely small sample size - went significantly worse than the 62 in the year prior with an average of .130 and an OPS of .304 with no home runs and just one RBI. After the season, he was placed on waivers by the Rockies. He was claimed briefly by the Chicago Cubs but was designated for assignment after just one week on the 40-man roster.
The Toronto Blue Jays claimed him from there and sat on waivers through January but after Danny Jansen suffered an injury, the team reselected his contract which resulted in Serven playing in 28 games for Toronto this past season. In those 28 games, Serven's numbers improved a little bit from the tough run in 2023, but were nothing to write home about again with a .159 and .465 OPS with three RBIs in 71 plate appearances.
His numbers in Triple-A in 2024 were very solid however with a .265 average in 40 games along with an OPS of .796, both dramatic improvements from a sub-.200 average and .572 OPS in Triple-A the year prior before being waived by Colorado.
With the lack of catching depth on the 40-man roster and defensive specialist Jake Rogers as the one of just two at the big league level, Serven could have a chance to make himself an asset and at least compete to push for the backup role. In order to do that, he will have to fight off Dillon Dingler who did not do anything of note in his 27-game MLB debut with an average of .167 and an OPS of .505.
At the very least, Serven becomes a name to keep an eye on during Spring Training.
