What’s The John Buck Signing By Atlanta Braves Mean?

The Atlanta Braves continue to make moves this offseason – this one may be minuscule – to bolster their roster.  On Monday afternoon the Braves announced that they have signed veteran catcher John Buck to a minor league contract and a 2015 Spring Training invite.

For the past few seasons, Fredi Gonzalez (maybe it was Frank Wren) enjoyed the idea of having three catchers on the 25-man roster.  But I do not see this the case in this situation.  Buck will probably start the season with the Gwinnett Braves unless something happens to Christian Bethancourt or A.J. Pierzynski.

The 34-year-old will join the Braves after being with the Kansas City Royals (2004-2009), Toronto Blue Jays (2010), Miami Marlins (2011, 2012), New York Mets (2013), Pittsburg Pirates (2013), Seattle Mariners (2014) and the LA Angels (2014).

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The 11-year veteran catcher only played in 32 MLB games in 2014 while playing in 33 games with the Salt Lake Bees (Angels Triple-A).  In those 33 games with the Bees he had an impressive slash line of  .294/.370/.412.  While with Seattle in 2014, he backed up Mike Zunino. Buck made one All-Star appearance with the Blue Jays in 2010 when he hit .281/.314/.489 with 20 homers, 66 RBIs, 25 doubles and 53 runs scored.  In 2011, he had the most putouts as a catcher in the  NL with 1,008 while playing with the Marlins. The 6’3″, 245 pound catcher contains a 5.0 career WAR.

Say nothing happens to Bethancourt or Pierzynski, Buck will head to Gwinnett.  His competition in Gwinnett will be (currently) Jose Yepez, Eli Whiteside, and Steve Rodriguez.  Whiteside made his MLB debut in 20o5 and has been up and down in many organizations over his career.  He is most known for his defensive abilities.  Yepez has the most experience in Gwinnett with being in Triple-A system for the past five seasons.  Rodriguez is an interesting pick – the 25-year-old was in Single-A Advance and Double-A in 2014 and has supposedly moved up to Gwinnett (according to their website).

The signing of Buck will probably come to a surprise to many but if you look deep into these signings that the Braves have made this offseason, there are similarities. 30 to mid-30 year old, veteran players who have a good reputation inside the clubhouse and that are respected. After what we/and the organization went through in 2014, these changes had to be made. The “culture in the clubhouse” had to be changed.