The Dodgers trade Diego Cartaya to the Twins, who keep piling up catchers

The Los Angeles Dodgers have officially moved on from catcher Diego Cartaya, trading the former top prospect to the Minnesota Twins for minor-league right-hander Jose Vasquez.

It’s only been two years since Cartaya was ranked Keith Law’s no. 6 in baseball i Athleticswith the shortstop seen as a potential future cornerstone of the Dodgers’ plans to extend their title window forever. Now, the franchise has locked up one of its other former top catching prospects to a 10-year deal (Will Smith), has another apparently on the way in Dalton Rushing, and announced it had designated Cartaya for assignment last week when they made another splashy acquisition, signing Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim to a three-year deal.

Cartaya’s decline has been significant and rapid.

A history of back injuries has kept him off the field at a moment’s notice, and when he’s been healthy, he’s struggled to produce with the bat that he had through the lower levels of the minor leagues. He was still on Law’s list of prospects who “just missed” the Top 100 a year ago, but then produced a .686 OPS in 400 plate appearances between Double A and Triple A in 2024. The issues matched the critical parts of his initial scouting report, with Cartaya striking out nearly 30 percent of the time while not providing enough consistent power to make up for it.

At only 23 years old, Cartaya is still an exciting talent, but there was no longer a path for him in Los Angeles.

Vasquez is a rookie ball right-hander who has spent the last two years in the Dominican Summer League, posting a 4.99 ERA with 45 strikeouts against 15 walks in 30 2/3 innings there last season.

He was not considered Athletics‘s latest list of Twins top 40 prospects, but improved his fastball velocity into the mid-90s, and the 20-year-old has some upside as a low-minor flier for the Dodgers’ player development group.

Minnesota finished last season with three catchers on the 40-man roster and has since traded Cartaya and Mickey Gasper to go with holdovers Christian Vázquez, Ryan Jeffers and Jair Camargo.

Gasper’s defensive reputation behind the plate is shaky enough that it might be a stretch to consider him a catcher rather than a first baseman who also catches, but regardless, it’s notable that the Twins are adding depth at the position as trade rumors continue to to whirl around. Vázquez.

Camargo has been stuck at Triple A the past two seasons, and Cartaya is something of a lottery ticket at this point, but the odds of the Twins having five — or even 4 1/2 — catchers on the 40-man roster when spring training begins are slim .

Vázquez is owed $10 million in the final season of a three-year deal, and the Twins’ current $142 million payroll is about $10 million more than the projected budget from ownership. It becomes harder not to connect some dots.

(Photo by Diego Cartaya in 2022: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)