Detroit Tigers News: Welcome Home, Eric Haase

To make room for Haase, the Detroit Tigers designated Dario Agrazal for assignment.

The Tigers added catcher depth to the team when they traded for Cleveland Indians catcher Eric Haase for cash on Wednesday. Haase will be the fourth catcher on the 40-man roster and has a minor league option left so the assumption is he could start the season in Toledo. In 32 career at-bats for the Indians, he hit .094/.147/.188 in a very small sample size.

The Indians drafted Haase in the 7th round in 2011 out of Dearborn Divine Child High School in Michigan so there is some local familiarity. Last year for the Columbus Clippers, in 102 games, Haase hit .226/.315/.517 with 28 HR and 60 RBI and an ISO of.291 and 70 graded raw power according to Fangraphs. While he has had three straight seasons of 20 home runs or more, his career K rate is over 30%. Here’s the scouting report from Baseball America. (Premium Subscription required)

“Haase had long shown strength in his swing but after the 2016 season made some changes to improve his launch angle. His power comes with a hefty amount of swing and miss, but his strikeout rate of 30 percent has remained steady. Haase caught a career-high 90 games in 2018 because he was able to stay healthy and was decoupled from Francisco Mejia, with whom he often shared catching duties. He earns praise for his receiving and has solid arm strength.”

In other Tigers news yesterday, Brandon Dixon cleared waivers and was assigned to Toledo. The team leader in home runs in 2019 with 15, Dixon will provide depth in the outfield and at first base and get a chance to work on a K rate that was at 32.4% last year.