Cleveland Claims Veteran Catcher Off Waivers From Tigers, Guardians Roster Moves

In a corresponding move, the Guardians designated Zack Collins for assignment.

Guardians fans may be familiar with Haase because he actually spent the first two years of his career in Cleveland.

He played with the then-Indians from 2018-2019. He only played in 19 games but was able to hit a home run in his limited playing time. Haase spent the next four years of his career in Detroit as a backup catcher for the Tigers before being released. He also hit .229/.280/.400 with the Tigers and went through stretches where he looked solid at the plate. 

Adding a veteran catcher who has plenty of experience in MLB isn't a bad choice considering Cleveland has a rotation full of rookies and a rookie catcher as their backstop. It's a low-risk move that could help the team for the remainder of the season. 

Fans may be wondering why the Guardians won't call Bryan Lavastida back up. Terry Francona mentioned when the team called up Collins that the organization likes how Lavastida has been able to refind himself in the minors and didn't want to interrupt that if it was only going to be for a week or two.

It will be interesting to see what the team does do with their backup catcher once Gallagher returns from his concussion. 

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