Minnesota Twins 2026 Position Analysis: Catcher

[Nick Nelson]

Image courtesy of Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The Ryan Jeffers era at catcher has quietly brought as much stability as any for the Minnesota Twins since Joe Mauer moved off the position in 2014. He's never been a steadfast regular in the way Mauer was, but Jeffers has been a steady presence behind the plate since his MLB debut back in 2020, when his impressive 26-game breakthrough earned him Twins Daily Rookie of the Year honors during a shortened season. Jeffers ranks fourth all-time among Twins catchers in plate appearances, behind only Mauer, Earl Battey and Tim Laudner. 

Entering his final year of team control, and with an extension appearing unlikely, a changing of the guard is afoot at catcher. Here's where things stand entering 2026.

TWINS CATCHERS AT A GLANCE

Starter: Ryan Jeffers
Backup: Victor Caratini
Depth: Alex Jackson, Noah Cardenas, Andrew Cossetti
Prospects: Eduardo Tait, Enrique Jimenez, Khadim Diaw

Twins fWAR Ranking Last Year: 22nd out of 30
Twins fWAR Projection This Year: 12th out of 30

THE GOOD
If there's one area where I will give the Twins front office credit for their vision in the past eight months, it's the extent to which they've strengthened the organizational roadmap at catcher. 

Last year, there wasn't any roadmap. The "top prospects" listed in my 2025 position analysis for catcher were Jair Camargo and Diego Cartaya, both of whom ended up being released during the season. The future didn't just look bleak; with free agency creeping up for Ryan Jeffers, there basically was no future.

The Twins addressed that issue emphatically at last year's trade deadline. They first acquired Enrique Jimenez, a 19-year-old switch hitter of some promise, from Detroit in the Chris Paddack trade. It was a surprisingly strong return for Paddack, albeit nothing spectacular. Then, the biggest singular prize of Minnesota's deadline haul came over in the form of Eduardo Tait, another teenager of much higher esteem hailing from the Phillies system.

Jimenez is a legit presence on the Twins prospect radar — Aaron Gleeman ranked him as the 20th best prospect in the organization in his recent top-40 list at The Athletic. Tait is a legit presence on the overall prospect radar — ranked 38th, 54th and 65th by ESPN, BP and MLB, respectively. Catching prospects are always a gamble, especially ones this young, but it's hard to overstate how much the long-term outlook at this position has improved since this time last year.

The short-term outlook has also received a boost, even as Jeffers nears the end of his team control. He'll be plenty motivated for a big year, and is in line to be the true primary starter with Derek Shelton envisioning a two-thirds starting share. Jeffers is even more ambitious: "My goal is 120 (starts)," he told reporters this spring. "My body is going to be ready for that."

 

The pressure on Jeffers, who's never started more than 81 times behind the plate, to reach that lofty goal is lowered by the arrival of Minnesota's biggest offseason pickup: veteran switch-hitter Victor Caratini. His two-year, $14 million contract stands as the largest issued by the Twins in almost three years, reflecting their urgency in securing some sense of continuity at the catcher position.

He's not just a catcher, and if Jeffers has his way, Caratini will spend a good chunk of time at first base and DH this year. But the newcomer will play plenty, and when at catcher, Caratini's bat is a standout, massively improving over the precedent set by Christian Vázquez. Minnesota's catching duo has a solid chance at forming one of the best offensive units in baseball, and that's maybe one of the more underrated strengths of this year's Twins team.

 

Caratini wasn't the only high-level catching depth added by the Twins during the offseason. Prior to signing him, they made a trade with the Orioles to acquire Alex Jackson in exchange for minor-league utility man Payton Eeles. Jackson has the opposite profile of Jeffers and Caratini — great glove, highly suspect bat — but he brings some balance to the catching mix in that regard. 

The hold-up is that Jackson is unlikely to make the Opening Day roster as a third catcher, and he's out of options. The Twins are seemingly hoping that, if all three players stay healthy through spring camp, they'll be able to sneak Jackson and his $1.35 million salary through waivers and stash him as depth. 

As a backup catcher, Jackson is adequate. As a third catcher waiting on hand in Triple-A, he'd be a really nice asset. 

THE BAD
The Twins didn't lose much of anything offensively with the departure of Vázquez, but they lost a lot defensively. He was clearly the team's best receiver, and pitchers loved working with him. Jeffers has seen his fielding metrics decline to the point where most models saw him as well below-average last year. Caratini is not considered a particularly strong defensive catcher. 

Neither of these guys are disasters behind the plate, they just aren't standouts, and that speaks to the reality at this position: outstanding offense vs. outstanding defense is an either/or proposition, outside of the true upper-echelon stars. (Like Joe Mauer. And hopefully one day Eduardo Tait?)

For a team highly focused on improving its defense overall, while also bringing along a number of emerging young pitchers, this feels extra important. Defense is difficult to measure and quantify at this nuanced position, but no one can deny its critical impact. Can Jeffers find a way to reverse his sub-par control of the opposing run game? How quickly can Caratini build rapport and earn confidence from his new battery partners? How will both adapt to the new ABS system? These are key questions.

The presence of Jackson and his highly regarded glove do bring a level of defensive assurance, at least from a depth perspective, but again, he'll be in Triple-A if things go to plan. And if/when he does enter the catching mix, the Twins will have to deal with his bat — one of the worst in baseball over the past handful of years — in the lineup. 

THE BOTTOM LINE
Good offense and questionable defense amount to a Twins catching unit that projects as above average but not elite. FanGraphs forecasts them to rank 12th among MLB teams in fWAR at the position, which looks about right to my eye. 

The big storyline is whether Jeffers makes it through the entire season as a Twin. The healthier and more successful he is in the first half, the more likely he is to be traded at the deadline by a front office looking to supplement its rebuild. That is, unless the team is surprisingly competitive, and not in position to sell. If that happens, this potentially top-tier catching unit will undoubtedly play a big role.

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[c24]

My best friend is a big Tigers fan and he hated that they gave up Jimenez. To me that's a really good sign with that trade.

[Eris]

Baseball Salvants fielding run value for catchers aligns very well with the qualitative description of all 3 catchers defensive capabilities. 
 

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/fielding-run-value?gameType=Regular&seasonStart=2025&seasonEnd=2025&type=fielder&position=2&minInnings=200&minResults=1

[jmlease1]

Catching for the Twins is definitely in better shape than it was; as much as Vazquez brought to the team in terms of defense and working with pitchers, the utter collapse of his bat made him a liability. (it's hard to say that signing worked out particularly well; the cost ended up being too high because the defense wasn't elite enough to make up for the black hole on offense, but the thinking was still reasonable. They just projected Vazquez would likely be putting up an OPS+ more in the 75-90 range, and instead he never cleared 60.)

Jeffers is a solid enough catcher, Caratini adds switch-hitting and very respectable offense...at catcher. The more he plays at 1B or DH the less effective he'll be I'm afraid. It'd be great to slide Jackson to AAA and hope no one wants his salary as their backup, but I wouldn't keep him on the 26-man as a 3rd option.

Tait and Jimenez really improve the upside in the system, where they've been struggling to find the successor to Jeffers. You never know with prospects, of course, but these are guys with real upside. Much less squinting required to see them in MLB. If Tait continues to progress, he could be an option in 2028 for sure, and if Jackson sticks in AAA we're fairly well covered for 2027 even if Jeffers leaves and Tait isn't ready yet.

 

[Danchat]

I actually like what they did with the catcher position going back to the trade deadline, finally getting some legitimate prospects in the farm system and finding a quality partner to Jeffers rather than crossing our fingers with Jackson and whatever unplayable AAA catchers we have in the system. On Jackson, I think makes it to AAA given a team would have to take on his salary. They can survive if one of Jeffers or Caratini goes down.

[Brandon]

I thought we traded with the Orioles for Jackson not the Nationals.  

I like what the Twins did at C this off-season.  I actually think the front office did a great job with the limited budget they have..  this is a transition year as there are 4 offensive position players on their way up  and a bunch of pitching prospects too.  This will be a quick rebuild. The question is can the Twins compete with their team as currently constructed.  I see a .500 team.  I would feel better if Lopez were healthy.

[mikelink45]

I am not as pleased as most commenters.  I am actually thinking of next year which is what most articles have pointed to as when the Twins climb back into contention.  We have some excellent prospects that I suspect will be in the lineup - Walker, Rodriguez - but if Jeffers is gone and there is a good chance then Caratini is not a good replacement.

Everything I have read is that his defense is not adequate for the number one catcher and Tait is still a ways off.  

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

I am not as pleased as most commenters.  I am actually thinking of next year which is what most articles have pointed to as when the Twins climb back into contention.  We have some excellent prospects that I suspect will be in the lineup - Walker, Rodriguez - but if Jeffers is gone and there is a good chance then Caratini is not a good replacement.

Everything I have read is that his defense is not adequate for the number one catcher and Tait is still a ways off.  

Next year we could have Jackson to platoon with Cartini then Tait should be ready.  or we could sign Jeffers to an extension.

 

[DataNerd]

1 hour ago, mikelink45 said:

I am not as pleased as most commenters.  I am actually thinking of next year which is what most articles have pointed to as when the Twins climb back into contention.  We have some excellent prospects that I suspect will be in the lineup - Walker, Rodriguez - but if Jeffers is gone and there is a good chance then Caratini is not a good replacement.

Everything I have read is that his defense is not adequate for the number one catcher and Tait is still a ways off.  

There is a good chance they will need to address it next year, but they addressed a short term need, and we'll have a much better idea in a few months what we are needing at the position.  It's plausible that a Caratini/Jackson duo would be fine for a year while waiting for Tait, or both could tank and we are looking at Caratini as the backup and needing a starter.  I'd rather address the problem when we know what the problem actually is

[rdehring]

Couple of questions.  For those of you speculating about next year, will there be baseball next year?  Expect most teams are adjusting their plans because of that question.

The signing of Caratini tells me they are assuming Jeffers is gone.  Only question is when?  I would have hoped that they traded Jeffers after signing Caratini so they could keep Jackson as their backup while awaiting the arrival of Tail/Jimenez.  Could that still happen during spring training?

[mikelink45]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

Next year we could have Jackson to platoon with Cartini then Tait should be ready.  or we could sign Jeffers to an extension.

 

I would like Jeffers extended but Boras is not a supporter of this strategy.

[mikelink45]

1 hour ago, DataNerd said:

There is a good chance they will need to address it next year, but they addressed a short term need, and we'll have a much better idea in a few months what we are needing at the position.  It's plausible that a Caratini/Jackson duo would be fine for a year while waiting for Tait, or both could tank and we are looking at Caratini as the backup and needing a starter.  I'd rather address the problem when we know what the problem actually is

We know Boras does not like to give up Free Agency so I think we can begin the planning now.  I don't like it when the other teams and agents know we are desparate.

 

[AceWrigley]

3 hours ago, rdehring said:

Couple of questions.  For those of you speculating about next year, will there be baseball next year?  Expect most teams are adjusting their plans because of that question.

The signing of Caratini tells me they are assuming Jeffers is gone.  Only question is when?  I would have hoped that they traded Jeffers after signing Caratini so they could keep Jackson as their backup while awaiting the arrival of Tail/Jimenez.  Could that still happen during spring training?

I think there will be a new bargaining agreement in place without a lockout. I think (and hope) the owners learned from the last stoppage of play the damage it does to the sport (revenue).

I think the Caratini signing gives the Twins options; but considering that Jeffers is a Boras client I pretty much expect Jeffers to get traded at the trade deadline this year.

[rdehring]

36 minutes ago, AceWrigley said:

I think there will be a new bargaining agreement in place without a lockout. I think (and hope) the owners learned from the last stoppage of play the damage it does to the sport (revenue).

I think the Caratini signing gives the Twins options; but considering that Jeffers is a Boras client I pretty much expect Jeffers to get traded at the trade deadline this year.

Sure hope you are right.  It appears there are enough owners who finally are ready to demand that baseball's problems are actually fixed.  And if that means a salary cap, the players have been clear they won't accept that.  Will be interesting to see what the players union losing their head guy will mean, if anything.

[AceWrigley]

2 hours ago, rdehring said:

Sure hope you are right.  It appears there are enough owners who finally are ready to demand that baseball's problems are actually fixed.  And if that means a salary cap, the players have been clear they won't accept that.  Will be interesting to see what the players union losing their head guy will mean, if anything.

I think Bruce Meyer the new director of the Player's Union has and will be the lead negotiator so not much change there really. I know the owners want a salary cap but I don't think they are married to the idea enough to prevent or seriously delay the 2027 baseball season.

[The Great Hambino]

42 minutes ago, AceWrigley said:

I think Bruce Meyer the new director of the Player's Union has and will be the lead negotiator so not much change there really. I know the owners want a salary cap but I don't think they are married to the idea enough to prevent or seriously delay the 2027 baseball season.

I think there's one thing that's going to keep the owners from going to the mattresses over a salary cap in this round of negotiations: TV rights going to market.  Baseball is at a crossroads in terms of how their product is distributed and consumed.  The RSN model that has propped up revenues is on life support, if not effectively dead, and this next round of media rights will determine how they replace that revenue.  Manfred's strategy has been to bundle local rights as much as possible and bring everything to market at the same time, which is why they've made every effort to have all existing media contracts end after the 2028 season.  Bringing all those rights to market on the heels of a significant loss of games would be utterly catastrophic.  There will be a whole lot of posturing and maybe a delay to the start of spring training, but they'd be crazy to torpedo their largest source of revenue to get a cap from the players.  It wouldn't be worth it.  Just ask the NHL how they liked putting their games on the Outdoor Life Network. 

I think the real salary cap battle will happen with the next round of CBA negotiations after this one.

[DarrenPS]

Let me be extremely clear, Jeffers should be extended. But ~if~ the plan is 100% we cannot afford to extend him, he should be traded tomorrow, not at the deadline

[stringer bell]

I think there is a real possibility that Jeffers will be moved before Opening Day. Much like trading Joe Ryan, I wouldn't like it, but I understand getting a high return for a guy when his trade value is high. If a catcher goes down on a contender, Jeffers would be among the first guys the contender would check on (IMHO) and he could bring a lot in return.

After looking at Jackson's Savant page, I am intrigued. He has the arm and pop time to help limit a running game and his other defensive tools are good. At the age of 29, he got increased productivity as a hitter (SSS) mostly because of increased power created by a boost in bat speed. Could he come into his own as a hitter at age 30? In that case, he would be a real valuable piece. All of that means that I'd like to find some way to keep Jackson in the organization for this year and perhaps the next. The sure way to do that is to keep him on the major league club. If Jeffers and Caratini are healthy on Opening Day, it would be a daring move to keep three catchers, but I think it could be done. 

[bean5302]

On 2/24/2026 at 5:11 PM, AceWrigley said:

I think there will be a new bargaining agreement in place without a lockout. I think (and hope) the owners learned from the last stoppage of play the damage it does to the sport (revenue).

I think the Caratini signing gives the Twins options; but considering that Jeffers is a Boras client I pretty much expect Jeffers to get traded at the trade deadline this year.

Big contract guys like Harper are already talking about expectations of work stoppages. It's easy for the big guys with $300MM of guaranteed money coming their way.

Owners bent over backwards in the last CBA. If there's a work stoppage, I expect it to be a lost season while the owners break the union hard. The MLBPA couldn't care less about the fans. They don't care about the fans, the game, the entertainment, the ambiance. The MLBPA believes baseball is all about name of the guy on the field and how much that player makes.