The Dodgers designated former top catching prospect Diego Cartaya for assignment. The move opens a 40-man roster spot for Hyeseong Kim, whose three-year deal is official.
Cartaya has yet to play in the major leagues, but he’s a bigger name than most players who find themselves in DFA limbo. The Venezuela native was one of the best talents in his amateur signing class and inked a $2.5MM bonus in 2018. He performed well in the low minors and shot to the top of the Dodger system. Baseball America ranked him as L.A.’s #1 prospect entering both the 2022 and ’23 campaigns. He was among BA’s 25 best minor league talents in both years.
The Dodgers added Cartaya to their 40-man roster after the 2022 season. There was no chance they’d leave him unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. Cartaya’s long-term future on a team that already rostered Will Smith was debatable, but he at least seemed like a potential key trade chip. That he has been DFA just over two years later demonstrates how far his stock has fallen.
Cartaya’s bat has stalled in the upper minors. He hit .189 with a 29% strikeout rate over 93 Double-A games in 2023. While that knocked him off Top 100 lists, he still ranked eighth among Dodger prospects at Baseball America going into last season. Cartaya improved offensively in his second shot at Double-A, where he hit .236/.354/.379 over 45 contests. He couldn’t maintain that after being promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City in the middle of June.
The 23-year-old hit .208/.293/.350 while striking out at a 27.4% clip across 49 games in the Pacific Coast League. He had the second-lowest batting average and fifth-lowest OBP among PCL hitters with at least 200 plate appearances. Cartaya had been surpassed by Dalton Rushing as the top catching prospect in the system, while Smith signed a contract extension that’ll keep him in Los Angeles through 2033.
After Cartaya struggled through consecutive down seasons, the Dodgers are willing to move on. They’ll have five days to trade him or place him on waivers. Another team will almost certainly roll the dice, likely via trade that’d allow them to jump the waiver order.
Cartaya draws praise for his defensive acumen and has drawn plenty of walks even as his numbers have fallen in the high minors. While the swing-and-miss means he’s unlikely to become a franchise catcher, there are probably teams that feel he’ll be a capable backup or a potential low-end regular. Cartaya still has a minor league option remaining. An acquiring team would be able to send him to Triple-A for another season.
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