Veteran MLB Player Returns Home, Signs One-Year Deal With Cincinnati Reds

Todd Frazier Cincinnati Reds — The Cincinnati Reds have added Luke Maile to serve as backup catcher to Tyler Stephenson. Getty

KEY POINTS

The Reds have signed Luke Maile as a backup catcher for next season
Maile is expected to provide the same compliment that Austin Romine gave
His signing shuts the door on a potential Tucker Barnhart acquisition

Journeyman Luke Maile is returning home to Cincinnati after reportedly agreeing to a one-year deal with the Reds.

The development was announced by Reds Vice President and general manager Nick Krall on Monday, November 28.

It was also added that the 31-year-old catcher agreed to a contract that was worth $1.75 million for 2023.

It will also include an additional $25,000 in performance bonuses according to an unnamed source.

The Reds have yet to confirm the terms of Maile's deal.

Maile was originally signed out of the University of Kentucky by the Tampa Bay Rays after he was selected in the eighth round of the 2012 Major League Baseball draft.

He fills in an important void that the Reds hardly got help from last MLB season.

It was an area that Cincinnati wanted to address with a pitching staff that could trend even younger during another rebuilding season.

Last season, Maile hit .221 in a career-high 76 games. He also had three homers, 10 doubles and 17 RBI.

The Reds will be his sixth MLB team following stints with the Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers and Cleveland Guardians.

The catcher has yet to play in a big league game inside the Great American Ball Park.

The only time he did was in 2017 when he started against his hometown team.

The Reds cleaned up their backup depth when the offseason started to create space for a 40-man roster.

Austin Romine, Aramis Garcia and Michael Papierski are now free agents, while Mark Kolozsvary was claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles.

It was added that rookie starters Nick Lodolo and Hunter Greene complimented Romine last MLB season thanks to the latter's veteran influence.

Maile should be able to do the same seeing that he has worked with a variety of pitchers, not to mention owning playoff experience with the Guardians and the Brewers.

This development also puts a lid on word that the Reds had conversations with Tucker Barnhart as a backup catcher.

However, Barnhart was reportedly more interested in a starting catching opportunity.

Maile will serve as backup to Tyler Stephenson, who was limited to 50 games in his first year as the catcher for the Reds last season.