The Tigers announced Tuesday that catcher Tomas Nido has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to fellow catcher Jake Rogers, who is being reinstated from the injured list after missing about six weeks with an oblique strain.
Nido’s DFA shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Though he’s hitting .343 with Detroit, that’s a 12-for-37 sample that’s consisted entirely of singles and has come without a walk. Nido’s offense has been buoyed by a .480 average on balls in play. He’s fanned 10 times in 37 plate appearances (27%) and chased pitches off the plate at a grim 41% clip. He’s a well-regarded defender, but Nido entered the season as a career .210/.245/.309 hitter in 945 major league plate appearances. He was hitting .160/.222/.320 in 28 Triple-A plate appearances at the time he was originally summoned to the majors in place of the injured Rogers.
Detroit will happily take the month-plus of solid backup work for Nido and would surely love to pass him through waivers in order to retain him as a depth option in Triple-A Toledo. It’s hardly out of the question that he gets claimed, but there’s a good chance he’ll pass through waivers unclaimed as he did in June 2023 after the Mets had designated him for assignment. If Nido does clear waivers, he’d have the right to reject a minor league assignment (by virtue of both service time and that 2023 outright) in lieu of electing free agency.
