The Twins designated right-hander Pierson Ohl and catcher Jhonny Pereda for assignment, according to a club announcement. Those are the corresponding 40-man roster moves for the additions of Victor Caratini and Taylor Rogers. Minnesota finalized the signing of both free agent pickups this evening.
With a new reliever and catcher coming aboard, the Twins drop a depth player from both positions. Ohl is a 26-year-old who debuted with 14 appearances last season. He turned in a 5.10 ERA across 30 innings. Ohl did a nice job getting hitters to chase pitches outside the strike zone but doesn’t have huge raw stuff. His fastball clocks in around 92 MPH, while he uses a changeup and cutter as his most frequent secondary offerings.
A 14th-round pick out of Grand Canyon University in 2021, Ohl has a strong minor league track record. He has a 3.61 ERA in nearly 400 innings below the big league level. Ohl worked mostly as a starter for his first few seasons but switched primarily to long relief work last year. He went 3-4 innings at a time and put up a 2.40 ERA with a 30.3% strikeout percentage against a sub-4% walk rate across 71 1/3 frames. He has all three minor league option years remaining. There’s a pretty good chance he’ll land elsewhere within the next week, and it’s not out of the question another team trades the Twins cash or a low-level minor leaguer to jump the waiver order.
Pereda, 29, is a journeyman depth catcher. He made 30 appearances and tallied 78 plate appearances between the A’s and Twins last year. He’d also gotten into 20 games as a rookie with the Marlins in 2024. The righty hitter carries a .241/.299/.296 line without a home run in 118 trips to the plate. Pereda has a robust .296/.392/.419 slash over five seasons in Triple-A.
Caratini’s signing dropped Pereda to fourth on the catching depth chart. Minnesota isn’t guaranteed to keep third catcher Alex Jackson, who is out of options and would need to get through waivers before they could send him to Triple-A St. Paul. If they succeed in getting Pereda through waivers, he’d stick in the organization and get a non-roster invite to Spring Training. If another team claims him, they’ll probably look to add someone with MLB experience on a minor league deal. Minnesota has five days to trade Ohl and Pereda or to begin the waiver process.