Chris Ianetta gives the Yankees some depth at catcher

Chris Iannetta is the most recent possible third string catcher the Yankees signed. The Yankees signed the veteran 36-year-old on January 9 to a minor league deal.

They also signed 39-year-old Erik Kratz, who grew up in and went to high school in Pennsylvania, to a minor league contract on December 20. Kratz, who is in the Yankees organization for the third time after previously having a back up role in the minors in 2017 and 2019, is known for his clubhouse presence and defense. He has a career batting line of .205/.252 (on-base percentage)/.354 (slugging percentage) in 921 MLB plate appearances.

He lives in the Scranton area and could be assigned once again to the Triple-A Scranton RailRiders for depth. In 2019, with the Yankees top minor league affiliate, he was productive on offense with a .299/.375/.500 slash in 176 plate appearances.

Iannetta and Kratz should be competing in spring training for the third string catcher role since Kyle Higashioka has earned the backup role to Gary Sanchez. The pitchers enjoy throwing to Higashioka, he excels at framing pitches and he has some power with three homers in only 56 at-bats last season. His real weakness on offense is that his on-base percentage is very low since he did not walk once in his 57 plate appearances.

However, Higashioka, who will be 30 on April 20, deserves this opportunity to be the true backup catcher for the first time. The Huntington Beach, CA, native definitely has power in his bat since in 70 games at Triple-A last season he slugged 20 homers and had a solid .278 average.

The Yankees did not have as much depth in their organization at catcher with Austin Romine signing with the Tigers this offseason. It made sense that Romine left the Yankees since he will get a pay upgrade and will be a starting catcher for the first time, which he would not have been able to do with Sanchez ahead of him.

The Yankees did not have any catchers on the 40-man roster besides Sanchez and Higashioka, and the highest rated catching prospect (Donny Sands) is slated to begin the season at Double-A Trenton, according to Fangraphs.

It would definitely make sense to have Iannetta or Kratz at Triple-A until Sands is ready to be promoted. Iannetta has had more MLB success and is younger, which could make him a better option.

The Rhode Island native who went to college at UNC has a .230 average in his 14-year MLB career (1,197 games). He played with Rockies his first five seasons, then was with the Angels for four seasons, then spent a season with the Mariners and Diamondbacks and then spent the last two seasons with the Rockies. He has played in 100 or more games five times in his career.

Ianetta’s best season offensively came in 2008 when he .264 average, .390 on-base percentage, 18 homers, 65 RBI in 104 games. More recently, in 2017 with the Diamondbacks he had a solid .254 average, .354 on-base percentage, 17 homers, 19 doubles and 43 RBI.

He was the Rockies backup last season but was cut in August after hitting just .222/.311/.417 with six homers in 164 plate appearances. That would be decent fora backup but the numbers look worse considering that he played his home games at Coors Field.

He is known for his high on-base percentage, which is an area that the Yankees value.

Iannetta has improved his framing in recent years and has drawn overall positive marks with his glove in three of the past five seasons, but in 2019 his framing numbers dipped since he also struggled to control the running game, according to Steve Adams.

Either Kratz or Iannetta would make sense as the 3rd string catcher. Ianetta offers more offensively, but Kratz is more familiar with the pitchers in the Yankees minor league system having been at Triple-A in 2019.

It might make sense to keep both of them through spring training to see who works best with the Yankees pitchers and can contribute a little with the bat. Ianetta might make sense because he has younger, but they can’t really go wrong with having either at Triple-A to start the 2020 season.

The Yankees have to hope that Sanchez plays at least 130 games so that they will not need very many games from the back up catcher. It will be ideal if he can even return to the season he had in 2017 when he was an All-Star, played in 122 games and had a .278 average, .345 slugging percentage, 33 homers and 90 RBI.

In 2017, the Yankees’ backup catcher was Romine, who had a .218 average in 80 games. Romine would play in additional games when Sanchez was the DH.