Christian Bethancourt wants to "put it all together" for Marlins

On Sunday, the Miami Marlins acquired catcher Christian Bethancourt from the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for cash considerations. This added a second catcher to the 40-man roster and possibly the 26-man active roster. On Wednesday, Bethancourt spoke to the Miami media for the first time since the trade.

Originally, when Bethancourt was DFA'd by the Rays, the plan was for him to sign back with the organization if he went unclaimed. Those plans changed when Cleveland claimed him on November 6. Sunday's trade came shortly after the news of the Guardians signing free agent catcher Austin Hedges, who Bethancourt describes as a "good friend" of his.

"I'm happy to be part of the Miami Marlins now," said Bethancourt.

Bethancourt had mixed results in 2023, which was his age-31 season, slashing .225/.254/.381/.625 with 11 home runs, 33 RBIs and a 74 wRC+.

The Panamanian catcher made up for his offensive struggles by ranking in the 94th percentile of CS Above Average and in the 95th percentile of pop time. His ability to hold baserunners and throw them out addresses a weakness that the 2023 Marlins catching tandem of Jacob Stallings and Nick Fortes had.

"Offense is a very important part of the game nowadays," said Bethancourt. "Nobody in baseball or no player will want to be more successful at the plate than a catcher, just because of all the things we do and all the things we've got to go through. I'm working on a lot of things. I'm working on improving, not just offensively, but also defensively. There are some defensive parts of my game that I need to get better at and working on. Hopefully, I can put it all together."

This second trade of the Peter Bendix era reunites him with another former Tampa Bay Ray. He acquired Vidal Bruján and Calvin Faucher directly from the Rays last month, and he has also signed ex-Rays Tristan Gray and Matt Andriese to minor league deals. Among all those players, Bethancourt has the clearest path to an Opening Day job for a team that's thin at the catcher position.

Even before Spring Training, loanDepot park will be hosting the Caribbean Series beginning on February 1. One of the countries participating in the event is Panama, where Bethancourt is from. He represented Panama at the 2022 edition of the event and even more recently during the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

"It's on my plans. I want to, but we'll see," said Bethancourt. "It's gonna be really close to the (spring training) report date. Obviously, that's gonna help me to be ready or be like a step ahead of everybody else who doesn't play in the Caribbean Series."

Photo: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports