The Rockies announced today that they have re-signed catcher Jacob Stallings to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2026. Per Mark Feinsand of MLB. com (X link) and Jon Heyman of The New York Post (X link), it’s a $2.

5MM deal including a $2MM salary in 2025 and a $500K buyout on a $2MM mutual option for 2026. Heyman says Stallings has a chance to earn $3MM, so there are presumably some incentives or bonuses for the Bo McKinnis client. Colorado’s 40-man roster is now full.

It’s not a surprise to see the two sides reunite. The Rockies signed Stallings a year ago and he went on to have a solid season. It seems he enjoyed his time at altitude, as it was reported in September that the two sides had mutual interest in a reunion.

Though he wanted to come back, he turned down a $1. 5MM mutual option for 2025 in favor of a $500K buyout. He was presumably hoping to secure a guarantee larger than the $1MM difference between those two numbers and has indeed done so.

Stallings got into 82 games for the Rox in 2024, stepping to the plate 281 times. He hit nine home runs and drew walks at a solid 9. 6% clip.

His . 263/. 357/.

453 batting line translated to a 114 wRC+, his best offensive showing in any season in which he took at least 20 plate appearances. The defensive reviews were a bit more mixed. He had racked up 42 Defensive Runs Saved from 2019 to 2021, the highest of any catcher in the majors for that time frame.

But that metric has soured on him, giving him a grade of -15 over the past three seasons, including a -6 grade in 2024. Outlets like Baseball Prospectus and Statcast have considered him to be an excellent blocker in recent years but not so great in terms of framing or controlling the running game. While Stallings may not be a perfect player, perhaps he’s the right guy for the Rockies and their current circumstances.

Drew Romo may be viewed as the club’s long-term solution behind the plate but he’s not quite there yet. Selected 35th overall in the 2020 draft, he is just 23 years old and is still a work in progress. He has made his major league debut but hit poorly in just 16 games.

Perhaps Romo will get a lengthier big league audition in 2025, with the 35-year-old Stallings around as a veteran mentor/backup. Or if Romo is getting more seasoning in Triple-A, a level at which he has less than 100 games of experience, then perhaps Stallings will get more big league playing time. Utility player Hunter Goodman is the third catcher on the roster and he could be a factor if Romo is down on the farm, or perhaps the Rockies could bring in another veteran.

Either way, the club should be playing the long game. They just wrapped up their sixth straight losing season, with more than 100 losses in each of the past two campaigns. There are some positive developments on the roster but they can afford to give Romo some time to get his feet wet and get accustomed to the big leagues.

Since player development doesn’t always go in a straight line, it makes sense to have a vet like Stallings around to help the process or simply step in whenever Romo might be more focused on things like training, developing relationships with pitchers or any of the other facets of being a big league catcher. This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.