Jake Rogers has lived through a baseball stretch that sounds made up until you trace the transactions.
In 21 days, the catcher appeared in games for four different clubs: the Tigers, Orioles, Red Sox and White Sox. Baseball-Reference noted Sunday that no player had ever moved that quickly from team to team to team to team. The previous mark belonged to Frank Huelsman, who needed 42 days in 1904 to do it.
“It’s been a crazy few weeks here,” Rogers said. “A whirlwind, to say the least.”
That whirlwind started when Detroit designated Rogers for assignment on July 30. The move came after nine years in the organization, including his debut in 2019 and a long run as one of the Tigers’ most respected figures behind the plate and in the room.
He had been drafted by the Astros in the third round, arrived in Detroit in the 2017 Justin Verlander trade and built a reputation as a strong defender, a beloved clubhouse presence, a guy with goofy mustaches, a pitcher in blowout games and even a knuckleballer. But this season he was hitting .161 and had seen his playing time shrink behind Dillon Dingler.
Late on July 29, after the clubhouse had emptied, A.J. Hinch and president of baseball operations Scott Harris delivered the news.
“It was a tough conversation,” Rogers said. “Obviously, I spent most of my career here.
It was a sore spot. … I got to say goodbye to a few guys, but I got a lot of texts from guys the next day, which kinda makes it a little easier.”
Baltimore was already in town and had interest, and Rogers expected his next move would come before he cleared waivers. He flew home to Dallas while waiting. Detroit wound up trading him to the Orioles for right-handed pitcher Zane Barnhart after Baltimore left town.
Then came the quick stop in Baltimore. Rogers landed, put on an Orioles uniform and found himself in a game against the Phillies, entering in the eighth inning.
“They were just like, ‘Hey, we’re excited to have you,'” Rogers said. “I figured I was going to be there.”
The next turn came fast, too. On Aug. 3, the trade deadline sent Rogers to Boston in the Orioles’ deal for Adley Rutschman.
Rogers called it “A shock,” and after a short flight, he was in the Red Sox lineup against the White Sox. He caught the final three innings of a 13-inning game and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the 12th to help tie it.
His time in Boston barely lasted long enough to unpack. Rutschman was on the IL to start, and once activation loomed, Rogers saw where it was headed. By Aug. 11, after only nine plate appearances, the Red Sox activated Rutschman and designated Rogers for assignment again.
“(Craig) Breslow and everybody in Boston couldn’t have been nicer and handled the whole situation perfectly,” Rogers said.
The White Sox were next, and the timing fit a roster need: Chicago’s catchers had produced a league-worst .518 OPS. Rogers got the news Friday, after already flying from Toronto with Boston back to Dallas.
“A lot of flying around and a lot of mileage points, for sure,” he said.
Then came another trip, this time back to Detroit for a weekend series between the White Sox and Tigers with AL Central implications. Hinch texted him, “Baseball’s really weird,” and Rogers answered, “Of course it would happen like that.”
By Saturday morning, he was back at Comerica Park, talking with former teammates and preparing to start behind the plate. He even had the right gear, after borrowing catching equipment from Chadwick Tromp in Baltimore while waiting for his own Mizuno order. Along the way, he’s had to learn new staffs and new scouting reports almost immediately.
“The craziest thing is trying to learn each guy’s tendencies and what they like to throw,” Rogers said. “You can look at it on paper, but it means more coming from the guys and catching them one or two times to learn it. … It’s been a school of hard knocks situation, but we’re making our way through it.”
His first at-bat back in Detroit brought a standing ovation from the Comerica Park crowd. Troy Melton stepped off the rubber to let the moment breathe, and the PA played Rogers’ old walk-up song, Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places.”
“He obviously meant a lot to everybody in this locker room,” Melton said. “It can’t be overstated how important he was, personally helping me become a major-leaguer, not only the stuff on the field but off of it.”
Rogers then bunted into a rare 1-5-4 double play, and his new club still beat his old one. Now he’s with a White Sox team that just swept the Tigers and sits atop the AL Central, though his stay may not be permanent with Kyle Teel working back from an ankle sprain.
That’s the life Rogers is in now: four teams, three trades, one remarkable sprint through the league, and no guarantee what comes next.
Back when he was a Tiger, Rogers often spent mornings at his locker filling out the Immaculate Grid, trying to complete it using only catchers.
These days, one name is suddenly a whole lot more useful on the puzzle.
His own.
In Other News...
White Sox Made A Catching Choice Fans Wont Ignore
The White Sox wrapped up a productive week at 4-2, with enough pitching and timely power to keep the momentum moving in the right direction. Luis Castillo delivered a quality start, Jos Urquidy helped steady the staff in relief, and the lineup got home runs from Tristan Peters, Munetaka Murakami and Miguel Vargas during the series against the Detroit Tigers.
Amid all that, the club also made a catching move that will draw immediate attention. Chicago added Jake Rogers to the roster and sent Edgar Quero to Charlotte, a decision that reshapes the depth chart at a position that always tends to get watched closely, especially when a young player is involved and the team is trying to sort out its next look behind the plate. [Read more 🡒]
White Sox Head To Wrigley With One Problem They Cant Hide
The White Sox are heading across town to Wrigley Field with first place in the AL Central still in hand, but the rotation situation is doing a good job of stealing some of the spotlight. Injuries and uneven performance have left Chicago trying to piece together how it wants to cover the middle of this series, and the uncertainty is especially noticeable for a club that has spent so much of the season trying to keep the momentum going.
Colson Montgomery remains one of the names to watch if the White Sox want this visit to Wrigley to feel like more than just a novelty trip, but the real pressure is on the pitching side. Chicago has options it is considering to patch things together, and the next few days will say plenty about how stable this staff really is as the crosstown series unfolds. [Read more 🡒]
Caleb Bonemer Is Giving White Sox Fans Another Reason To Believe
Caleb Bonemer keeps stacking up reasons for White Sox fans to keep an eye on the farm system, and the latest recognition came from Baseball America, which slotted him 15th on its Hot Sheet after a strong week at Double-A. Since the promotion, Bonemer has looked more than comfortable, posting a .381/.519/.810 line and showing better contact skills along the way, a promising sign for a club still trying to build its next wave from within.
For Chicago, the encouraging part is not just the production, but the way it fits the bigger picture of the organizations minor league pipeline. The recent round of affiliate action also brought a full slate of game recaps and individual stat lines from Rochester, Columbus, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Kannapolis and Hickory, offering another snapshot of how broad the rebuild effort has become, with Bonemer now standing out as one of the names worth tracking most closely. [Read more 🡒]