The Twins moved on from catcher Alex Jackson on Monday, designating him for assignment and opening a 40-man roster spot for first baseman Aaron Sabato, whose promotion from Triple-A St. Paul is now official.
For Jackson, it’s the third time Minnesota has DFA’d him this season. Each of the first two times, he made it through waivers, then accepted an outright assignment to the minors. That path makes sense financially, since he’s making $1.35MM this year and would walk away from the rest of that salary if he chose free agency instead of taking the outright.
Jackson is 30 now, a former No. 6 overall pick and once a major prospect, but his big league career has never really taken hold. He’s logged nearly four years of service time in a journeyman role, appearing for six MLB teams over seven partial seasons and hitting .175/.254/.305 with a 39.6% strikeout rate.
There has been a little more to like at the plate in a smaller sample. Over the last two seasons, Jackson has hit .256/.312/.444 with the Twins and Orioles in 173 plate appearances, good for a 112 wRC+.
Even that line comes with warning signs, though: a 35.3% strikeout rate and a .376 BABIP that’s not built to last over a bigger sample. What he does bring is defense, especially his ability to control the running game.
Minnesota’s usage of Jackson has been unusual. The club DFA’d him 10 days after the trade deadline, then brought him right back a few days later after he cleared waivers.
As Aaron Gleeman noted, the Twins kept him on the roster for 44 games dating back to Aug. 1 and gave him only five plate appearances in that span. He functioned as the third catcher behind Ryan Jeffers and Victor Caratini, with some backup work at first base, but mostly stayed on as insurance while manager Derek Shelton worked with what amounted to a 25-man roster.
The likeliest outcome is the same one Jackson has already seen twice this year: another trip through waivers, another outright assignment to St. Paul.
He has roughly $50K left on his guaranteed salary, and that’s not much incentive to turn down the assignment with a week left in the season. Another team could claim him for catching depth on the cheap, but arbitration would push his price up this winter, which makes him a straightforward non-tender candidate.
If he clears waivers again and accepts the assignment, Jackson can become a minor league free agent after the season, as is the case for players with at least three years of major league service who come off a 40-man roster and aren’t added back before the offseason.
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