Guardians' Christian Bethancourt: Catches on with Cleveland

The Guardians claimed Bethancourt off waivers from the Rays on Monday, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Bethancourt spent a large portion of the 2023 season as the Rays' No. 1 catcher and put up decent counting statistics over his 332 plate appearances (11 home runs, 49 runs, 33 RBI and one stolen base), but an ugly .225/.254/.381 slash line (74 wRC+) made his less useful at the plate from a real-life standpoint. Still, the 32-year-old graded out as a capable defender behind the dish and wasn't a complete zero with the bat, so he should at least make for a dependable backup option and short-side platoon mate in Cleveland for No. 1 backstop Bo Naylor.