The Cincinnati Reds have made a move today, acquiring catcher Ben Rortvedt from the Los Angeles Dodgers. Cincinnati picked up the backstop via waivers after he was designated for assignment. The move puts the Reds 40-man roster at 38 players, three of which are catchers as Rortvedt joins Tyler Stephenson and Jose Trevino on the roster.
The 28-year-old catcher is out of options. He is also arbitration eligible for 2026, 2027, and 2028. MLB Trade Rumors projects his 2026 salary to be $1,300,000 if he goes to arbitration.
Ben Rortvedt made his big league debut back in 2021 with the Minnesota Twins. He played in 39 games with them that year and put up a .510 OPS. He was traded to the New York Yankees in March of the following year and did not reach the big leagues in 2022 and only played in 48 games in the minor leagues that season. Rortvedt would get back to the majors in 2023 when he played in 32 games for the Yankees and put up a .461 OPS.
At the end of spring training in 2024 he was traded in a 3-team deal that saw him land in Tampa Bay. He spent parts of 2024 and 2025 with them, playing in 138 games and putting up a .563 OPS. At the trade deadline in 2025 he was moved in yet another deal, this time landing with the Los Angeles Dodgers where he played in 18 games. On the 2025 year he had a .445 OPS between the two teams. He did go 3-7 in the playoffs for the Dodgers. All three hits came against the Reds.
What seems pretty clear at this point is that you shouldn’t expect Ben Rortvedt to hit in the big leagues. He’s now 28-years-old and has a career line of .190/.279/.270 in 227 games at the Major League level. In 2025 he graded out as below-average in framing, but he’s been above-average for the rest of his career. He’s never thrown out many runners, but has been about league average as he’s tossed out 22.3% of attempted base stealers (league average in that time is 21.9%).
The state of catching in professional baseball isn’t what it used to be. Plenty of teams have catchers who can’t hit at all. And nearly every team has a backup catcher with no ability to hit. Rortvedt falls into that next group where he’s capable of catching at the big league level, but he can’t hit. He’s good to have in Triple-A if you need him because of injuries. That’s going to be tough, though, as he’s out of options and can’t be sent to the minor leagues without giving another team a chance to claim him.
You can see his career stats here.
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