Can the Twins Carry Three Catchers on the Opening Day Roster?

[Cody Christie]

Image courtesy of William Parmeter

The Minnesota Twins have built themselves a good problem behind the plate. The issue is that good problems still require difficult decisions. There are three big-league caliber catchers in camp, and no clear path to send any of them to the minors. If the Twins want to keep all three on the Opening Day roster in 2026, they will need to get creative with both playing time and bench construction.

Ryan Jeffers is locked in as the projected starter. After three seasons of a fairly even split with Christian Vázquez, the organization has made it clear that this is Jeffers’ staff now. He’s also entering his final year of team control, adding another wrinkle to the team’s long-term catching picture.

“Jeffers is going to be the C1,” manager Derek Shelton said early this offseason. “We’ve talked to Victor about it. The thing we thought about there is get a guy we think … is going to play behind Ryan, but he can also play first, he can also DH.”

That comment reveals the blueprint. Jeffers has long prepared himself for a larger workload. “Every year, I’ve grown up in this game,” Jeffers said. “I’ve gotten better at the routine and what I do in the offseason to prepare for the year. I’ve always prepared to catch a full workload, so nothing for that really changed for me this offseason.”

He caught roughly 700 innings last season and appeared in 119 games overall, 88 of them behind the plate. A jump to 120 games caught would push him near 1,080 innings, a total reached last year by only J.T. Realmuto and William Contreras. Jeffers knows that it is ambitious. Instead, he has his sights set on something more sustainable.

“That’s who I am, is a catcher,” Jeffers said. “A full catcher workload is 110-ish games, so if I want to be a full-time catcher, that’s where I want to be.”

With Vázquez’s contract expired, Minnesota added Alex Jackson in a minor trade and signed Victor Caratini to a two-year deal. Caratini’s versatility is central to this conversation. He can catch, play first base, and serve as a designated hitter. That gives the Twins a pathway to carry three catchers without locking themselves into a rigid timeshare.

In Friday’s Grapefruit League action, the Twins previewed the three-catcher concept. Jeffers served as the designated hitter, Caratini handled first base, and Jackson was behind the plate. It is unconventional, but it works on paper. The complication is roster math.

Jackson is out of minor league options. He cannot be sent down without being exposed to waivers. Meanwhile, projected bench pieces from FanGraphs include Kody Clemens, Ryan Kreidler, Austin Martin, and James Outman. Of that group, only Kreidler and Martin have options remaining. Clemens and Martin feel close to roster locks given their versatility. Kreidler is needed to back up Brooks Lee at shortstop.

Outman is intriguing, as his underlying metrics might suggest he has more under the hood. The Athletic recently highlighted Bat Speed, Swing Tilt, and Intercept Point as part of a growing toolkit that can help teams identify future impact hitters, even in tiny samples. Through these metrics, he is seen as a potential plus slugger. Outman demonstrated that power potential throughout his time in the minors, including a .945 OPS and 131 wRC+ at Triple-A last season. That doesn’t seem like a player the Twins would want to give up on for nothing.

Jackson is one of the worst hitters in baseball history, with over 400 big-league plate appearances and an OPS+ of 46. He’s an above-average framer and thrower, and he has shown some power potential at the plate. In 2025, he increased his bat speed from 74.4 mph to 76.1 mph, became more selective, and is a strong base runner. All those traits might point to him finding his footing at the big-league level.

That could leave the Twins choosing between Outman and Jackson, with the odd man out needing to pass through waivers. If the front office values a third catcher and the flexibility Caratini provides, they may be willing to carry a lighter traditional bench to protect their depth behind the plate.

For years, the Twins have been committed to evenly splitting the catching workload. Now they are signaling a shift. Jeffers is ready for more. Caratini offers flexibility. Jackson has no options. Keeping all three might not be conventional roster building, but it could be the clearest way for Minnesota to preserve both depth and durability over 162 games.

Can the Twins fit three catchers on the Opening Day roster? Leave a comment and start the discussion. 

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[CRF]

Can they? Sure. Should they? No. 

[Jeff K]

I think it would be a poor decision to carry all 3 catchers.  The infield is already weak and they need to make room on the roster for, at least, one of our young outfielders.  It's still early, but Emma looks ready thus far.

[Coach Wheels]

This conversation feels like more evidence of misguided roster building than anything else.

3 guys who can catch, 4 guys who can play 1st base, too many LH hitting OF'ers. 🤦‍♂️

Oh, by the way, the Yankees scored 17 runs in the spring training game yesterday. How's the pitching staff coming together?

[Whitey333]

3 catchers?  It doesn't seem too reasonable to me.  But with this messed up roster, who knows??

[Cory Engelhardt]

If they trade Larnach and have Martin in the outfield to start the year, then carrying 3 catchers won’t be a problem to start. And frankly, with how much Caratini will play at other positions, I don’t see it as an issue at least right away

[Major League Ready]

37 minutes ago, Coach Wheels said:

Th8s conversation feels like more evidence of misguided roster building than anything else.

3 guys who can catch, 4 guys who can play 1st base, too many Lh hitting OF'ers. 🤦‍♂️

Oh, by the way, the Yankees scored 17 runs in the spring training game yesterday. How's the pitching staff coming together?

How many of the pitchers who gave up a run in that game will be on the major league roster?  The answer is one, Cole Sands.

[TJSweens]

The problem with this rotation is that it involves using Caratini and his career .692 OPS at two premium offensive positions. Not a good plan in my opinion.

[stringer bell]

Given what the Twins have on the roster, I'm almost in favor of them carrying three catchers. Depending on who are the bench guys, they would have a lot of positional versatility to platoon with and cover backing up all the other positions except for catcher. Kreidler has experience in the infield and outfield, Clemens has played both outfield corners plus first, second and third, and Martin has ML starts at second and in left and center. Caratini has played first base occasionally for years.

Jackson made some positive hitting steps in 2025 and has really good defensive catching tools. I think he could help this club in both 2026 and 2027, I don't think the same is true for Outman.

[IndianaTwin]

35 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

Given what the Twins have on the roster, I'm almost in favor of them carrying three catchers. Depending on who are the bench guys, they would have a lot of positional versatility to platoon with and cover backing up all the other positions except for catcher. Kreidler has experience in the infield and outfield, Clemens has played both outfield corners plus first, second and third, and Martin has ML starts at second and in left and center. Caratini has played first base occasionally for years.

Jackson made some positive hitting steps in 2025 and has really good defensive catching tools. I think he could help this club in both 2026 and 2027, I don't think the same is true for Outman.

Thing is, with Caratini and Jackson, there’s not room for Kreidler, Clemens and Martin, UNLESS they try to get by with 12 pitchers. 

The schedule isn’t conducive to 12 pitchers. They have the first Friday and Tuesday off, but then launch into a stint with 15 games in 15 days, so there are fewer April days off than is often the case. 

[JD-TWINS]

58 minutes ago, TJSweens said:

The problem with this rotation is that it involves using Caratini and his career .692 OPS at two premium offensive positions. Not a good plan in my opinion.

The .692 OPS assumes no strong side as a Pinch Hitter……..Not familiar with his numbers but often there’s a strong side with switch hitters.

Larnach is barely average OPS v. all pitching he’s seen, but he’s around .765 v. RH pitching.

I think it’s a reasonable idea to keep guys fresh through May/June until some OF hits his way on to the Big Club. 

Clemens - Larnach - Martin - Wallner - Outman - Buxton

Lewis - Lee - Keaschall - Bell

3 Catchers  ……..13 guys.

No back-up IF in this scenario …… doesn’t work! ……..looks like 2 Catchers and either Kriedler or Grey……….with Lewis and Lee and their propensity to be nicked up, Team will need 2 depth IF sooner than later.

Outman, because Roden has options and somebody other than Martin needs to be able to spell Buxton.

Not trading Larnach so Jackson can get in the line-up.

 

[bunsen82]

If they keep 3 catchers the decision isn't for this year,  its for the next 2 years.  

[DJL44]

The first paragraph spells out why they shouldn't - they want Jeffers to catch 110 games. That means there are only 50 games left for the backup catcher. Do you need two backup catchers to cover 50 games? Does Jackson even catch 15 games in that scenario? Is that a good use of a limited roster?

Jackson cost nearly nothing to acquire. If they need a different Jackson due to injury, they can spend another low ceiling prospect to acquire someone new.

Really, the only reason to carry three catchers on the Opening Day roster is you're still trying to work out a Ryan Jeffers trade and the details aren't completely agreed upon.

[DJL44]

Quote

Outman is intriguing, as his underlying metrics might suggest he has more under the hood. The Athletic recently highlighted Bat Speed, Swing Tilt, and Intercept Point as part of a growing toolkit that can help teams identify future impact hitters, even in tiny samples. Through these metrics, he is seen as a potential plus slugger. Outman demonstrated that power potential throughout his time in the minors, including a .945 OPS and 131 wRC+ at Triple-A last season. That doesn’t seem like a player the Twins would want to give up on for nothing.

Outman is far less intriguing than Martin, Roden, Rodriguez, Jenkins or Gonzalez.

[LambchoP]

I think they need the limited roster spot for the OF. This roster construction is already a mess, they need to clean it up and even it out, not make it worse...

[Eris]

One of the components of this poor roster construction is that both Jeffers and Caratini are below average defensively. This is not ideal for getting the maximum out of a pitching staff. 

[D.C Twins]

Their roster construction is already a mess... so why not?!

As the initial cloud Pohlad subterfuge clears... we can all now agree that we have a Team with a gutted payroll with few truly impact players (Buxton and Ryan).

No Tom..... you are not trying to compete this year.

Silver lining is that his subterfuge likely did not have the intended impact... I doubt anyone really bought into Tom's desperate nonsense and bought more season tickets.

[AceWrigley]

Every team has decisions to make as they construct their roster for opening day and plan for the season. It just seems the Twins have unnecessarily boxed themselves in this winter with the current roster construction.

Used to be that teams carried 10 pitchers, now they carry 13. MLB expanded the roster from 25 to 26 but that still leaves teams crunched for positional players. I think they should have expanded the rosters to 27 and hope they do unless starting pitchers go back to throwing more complete games, which I don't see happening.

The fact that we're considering roster contortions to fit in a 30 year old backup catcher with a career OPS+ of 46 when even playing .500 ball seems like a small miracle just blows my mind.

[jmlease1]

Short answer: No.

Longer answer: No, unless they're intending for people to write a bunch of additional think pieces on how the Twins roster construction makes no damn sense? Jeffers and Caratini are good hitters a catcher. They're not good hitters at 1B or DH, more like "occasionally acceptable". Neither are particularly good defenders at 1B either, and neither should ever be sent to the OF. Jackson is a fine defensive catcher, but hasn't proven he can hit. Probably a good backup, might have potential for more, but probably a backup. Can't be seen as effective or productive at any other position.

Unless the Twins are suddenly going to carry 12 pitchers (something they've shown no indication they're interested in and seems foolish with their bullpen uncertainty) you cannot carry 3 catchers unless one of them plays another real defensive position and even then it's doubtful. How is it a good idea to have a bench of 1 infielder, 1 outfielder, and 2 backup catchers?!? If Bell is the starting DH, then you'd have to make Caratini or Clemens the starting 1B and send Larnach to the OF. If Larnach is the starting DH, then Bell has to start at 1B and under this construction there's no spot for Clemens...and while forcing Clemens off the roster ain't crazy, it makes no sense to keep Jackson over him.

What a dumb idea.

[DJL44]

37 minutes ago, Eris said:

One of the components of this poor roster construction is that both Jeffers and Caratini are below average defensively. This is not ideal for getting the maximum out of a pitching staff. 

Every projected starter, except Buxton and Lewis, is below average defensively.

[DJL44]

18 minutes ago, AceWrigley said:

Used to be that teams carried 10 pitchers, now they carry 13. MLB expanded the roster from 25 to 26 but that still leaves teams crunched for positional players. I think they should have expanded the rosters to 27

14 pitchers?

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

Outman is far less intriguing than Martin, Roden, Rodriguez, Jenkins or Gonzalez.

In a serious organization Outman would be out of the organization.

[dxpavelka]

17 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

14 pitchers?

Teams also used to not be afraid of letting pitchers pitch.

[stringer bell]

2 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

Thing is, with Caratini and Jackson, there’s not room for Kreidler, Clemens and Martin, UNLESS they try to get by with 12 pitchers. 

The schedule isn’t conducive to 12 pitchers. They have the first Friday and Tuesday off, but then launch into a stint with 15 games in 15 days, so there are fewer April days off than is often the case. 

I've posted before that I think there is a role for Martin as an everyday player. I guess the roster I put forward would not include Trevor Larnach or another LH outfielder who might be injured. If other teams saw what the Twins did when they traded for him, I don't think he will get through the DFA process and I think he  might be more valuable to the team in the medium term ('26-'27) than Larnach or Outman are. 

[AceWrigley]

37 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

14 pitchers?

And that. You think teams would be more likely to carry another pitcher rather than a position player if rosters were expanded to 27?

[DJL44]

8 minutes ago, AceWrigley said:

And that. You think teams would be more likely to carry another pitcher rather than a position player if rosters were expanded to 27?

Teams would absolutely carry another pitcher instead of another position player.

[AceWrigley]

Just now, DJL44 said:

Teams would absolutely carry another pitcher instead of another position player.

You're probably right. You could expand the roster to 30 and they would add all pitchers.

[bean5302]

17 minutes ago, AceWrigley said:

You're probably right. You could expand the roster to 30 and they would add all pitchers.

I think that's a distinct possibility, actually. The return of the 4 man rotation with 80 pitch counts and 3-4 solid long relievers good enough to go 3 innings might well come out of that TBH.

[bean5302]

Jackson wasn't acquired because he was one of the worst hitters in MLB history across his limited 440 plate appearances in 6 seasons at the MLB level. Falzoll decided the SSS approach change for Jackson at the plate was the sustainable cause for a jump from a career wRC+ 29 bat to a wRC+ 111 bat. 

Of course, further metrics suggest it was mostly luck and Jackson is still a poor hitter at the MLB level, but possibly... playable?

At this point in the season, I think Jackson would likely sneak through waivers. While his contract his fully guaranteed, it's only fully guaranteed so long as he does what the team says. Jackson doesn't have 5+ years of service time so a refusal to accept an assignment means he would forefit an enormous amount of money for a guy like him. He would go from $1.35MM guaranteed to likely a non-guaranteed $50k if signed to a MiLB contract.

It's a very abusive system to which the Dodgers organization has brought public scrutiny to this year. I don't expect this system to remain in place in 2027+, but we're not there yet.

I should also note, I wouldn't care if the Twins lost Jackson to another team claiming him. In fact, I think it would be a good thing because it was a bad trade and contract to begin with IMHO.

[AceWrigley]

37 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

I think that's a distinct possibility, actually. The return of the 4 man rotation with 80 pitch counts and 3-4 solid long relievers good enough to go 3 innings might well come out of that TBH.

Over the years I've considered various "pitching schemes" for managing innings and workloads, etc. The wild card in these constructs is always the "super ace" like Skubal and Skenes who you want on the mound as much as possible short of their arms falling off, hello Sandy Koufax. But over the years your SuperAce workload expectation has gone from 300 innings, to 250 innings to 200 innings in our current environment. Over the last 3 years only 12 pitchers have reached the 200 inning plateau.

So which is more impactful to team wins, a Skubal who starts 33-34 times in a 5-man rotation and pitches 200 innings, or a Skubal who starts 40-41 games in a 4-man rotation and pitches 200 innings? If you don't have a SuperAce (or 2) then you worry less about maximizing your main guys.

It's a good discussion and timely especially today with some teams talking a 6-man rotation. I think the 4-man rotation deserves some serious consideration.