The Mariners and catcher Beau Taylor are in agreement on a minor league deal, according to Taylor’s MLB.com profile page.
The deal marks a return to affiliated ball for the 34-year-old journeyman. Taylor was selected by the A’s in the fifth round of the 2011 draft but did not make his big league debut with the club until 2018, when he slashed .200/.333/.400 in a seven-game cup of coffee with Oakland. Taylor spent the next two seasons bouncing between the A’s as well as both Toronto and Cleveland as a depth option behind the plate, appearing in just 18 big league games during that time. The catcher’s 7-game stint in Cleveland during the shortened 2020 season represents his most recent big league experience.
Since then, Taylor has spent time in the Reds, A’s, and Orioles organizations at the minor league level, most recently batting a decent .222/.365/.368 in 50 games split between Oakland and Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliates during the 2022 season. Taylor departed affiliated ball last year in favor of signing with the Atlantic League’s High Point Rockers and enjoyed a strong season in indy ball. Beau appeared in 77 games, catching 61, and slashed a strong .291/.386/.453 with nine homers and 16 doubles in 316 trips to the plate.
Evidently, that performance was enough to earn Taylor a minor league pact with the Mariners. The opportunity provides Taylor another crack at establishing himself in affiliated ball, while the Mariners benefit from shoring up their upper-level catching depth. Cal Raleigh is the club’s everyday starter behind the plate with Seby Zavala and Mitch Haniger also on the club’s active roster.
That being said, Haniger has operated as a full-time DH to this point in the season, and Michael Papierski was the only other catcher in the organization with big league experience prior to the club’s acquisition of Taylor. Given that, Taylor provides the Mariners with additional insurance against an injury to Raleigh or Zavala should one of the club’s younger catchers, such as Blake Hunt or Harry Ford, not yet be ready to make the jump to the major leagues.