If it holds, the plan calls for Ryan Jeffers to handle the bulk of the Minnesota Twins\u2019 catching duties for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
Last month, Twins president Derek Falvey identified Jeffers as the team\u2019s starting catcher for the upcoming season after the veteran evenly split the role with Christian V\u00e1zquez the previous three years. With V\u00e1zquez a free agent, the Twins appear ready to increase Jeffers\u2019 playing time and make him more of a traditional catcher.<\/p>\n
Of course, the plan could be dashed were the Twins to trade Jeffers, who becomes a free agent after 2026. For now, though, he is the team\u2019s clear-cut No. 1 catcher, and he couldn\u2019t be more excited.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s what I\u2019ve been waiting for my whole career,\u201d Jeffers recently said by phone. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to earn everything, and you\u2019re not handed anything. But I felt like I was pretty clearly a starting-caliber catcher (previously) and wasn\u2019t given starting-caliber catcher playing time. I\u2019m very excited for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the offseason is barely underway \u2014 baseball\u2019s winter meetings start Monday in Orlando, Fla. \u2014 the Twins already have attempted to address a big hole at catcher when they acquired potential backup Alex Jackson from the Baltimore Orioles on Nov. 21 for minor-leaguer Payton Seles. A career 46 OPS+ hitter, Jackson produced an above-average offensive season in 2025 with five homers in 100 plate appearances for the Orioles.<\/p>\n
Jackson, 29, is still relatively inexperienced with only 160 major-league games caught. However, his resume leaves him as the second-most experienced catcher on the team\u2019s 40-man roster, with additional options in veteran Johnny Pereda and utility man Mickey Gasper.<\/p>\n
A former first-round pick of the Seattle Mariners (2014), Jackson\u2019s career high for games played is 58, with 46 at catcher in 2024. Were Jackson to take over as the backup, he\u2019d likely be expected to handle 50 games with the rest going to Jeffers.<\/p>\n
Adding Jackson, who MLB Trade Rumors predicts will earn $1.8 million in arbitration, aligns with what Falvey said during the general managers\u2019 meetings in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll intend for (Jeffers) to take down a lot of the games, and we\u2019ll probably have a more traditional backup,\u201d Falvey said at the time. \u201cI know when Vasky came on, the idea with Vasky and RJ was they were going to play a lot each. This might look a little more like a traditional starter and backup role.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though he\u2019s played an average of 121 contests the past two seasons, Jeffers has never caught more than the 88 games he was behind the dish last season. He recognizes his body can\u2019t be tested on the jump in games caught until he experiences it daily.<\/p>\n
He has a sense for what he\u2019s up against. With V\u00e1zquez missing nearly two months after the trade deadline because of a right-shoulder infection, Jeffers was nearly an everyday catcher down the stretch. He liked how his body felt despite the increased workload.<\/p>\n
Jeffers batted .266\/.356\/.397 with nine home runs and 47 RBIs in 464 plate appearances last season. He was even better from Aug. 1 on, hitting .290\/.378\/.395 in 143 plate appearances.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was catching almost every single day, and my body responded really well,\u201d Jeffers said. \u201cYeah, it\u2019s a long season, but I feel like I\u2019ve prepared my body to handle that workload. Now, I\u2019ve never done it before, so I don\u2019t really know how it\u2019s going to feel over 162 when I start doing it in March and how I\u2019m going to feel in September. We\u2019re going to find out. But I prepare my body to be able to handle that load.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeffers is also prepared for the possibility he might not make it to camp with Minnesota. At the deadline in July, the Twins traded 10 players off their major-league roster, an exodus which suggests the team could be rebuilding, even if nobody at 1 Twins Way wants to say it. Given Jeffers is an impending free agent, it\u2019s easy to wonder if the front office would try to cash in on his final year of service time by trading him to a contending team.<\/p>\n