St. Petersburg, FL – The Tampa Bay Rays have signed catcher year deal.
Molina appeared in 55 games for the Toronto Blue Jays last season and hit .281 with three home runs and 15 RBI. Molina's value, though, is behind the plate, where last season he threw out 33-percent of would-be base stealers. His 37.3- percentage for his career is fourth-best among active catchers.
Since 2008 Molina has been the majors' toughest catcher to steal against (minimum 200 games), nailing 62-of-170 runners (36.5 percent) during that span.
"Jose has been one of the best defensive catchers in baseball over the past decade, and his presence will bring even more stability to our defense, and he will, of course, be a great asset to our young pitchers," said Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.
With the Rays moving catcher John Jaso to Seattle on Sunday, Molina could be an everyday option for the Rays. However, the 36-year-old backstop has never started more than 81 games behind the plate or had more than 297 at-bats in a season.
Over 666 career games with the Blue Jays, Yankees, Angels and Cubs, Molina is a .241 hitter with 29 homers and 163 RBI.
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