Reds Sign Jose Trevino To Extension

3:50pm: The Reds officially announced that they have signed Trevino through 2027 with a club option for 2028.

1:25pm: The Reds and catcher Jose Trevino have reportedly agreed to an extension. The Paragon Sports International client was already under contract for $3.425MM for 2025 and set to hit free agency after that. This new deal now runs through 2027 with the option for ’28. Trevino will get $5.25MM in each of the two guaranteed years. The option is valued at $6.5MM with a $1MM buyout. That means it’s $11.5MM in new money over two years, though the club option means the Reds extend their potential window of control by three years.

Trevino, 32, still hasn’t played a regular season game for the Reds. He was just acquired from the Yankees in December, with reliever Fernando Cruz going the other way. During his time with the Rangers and Yankees over the previous seven seasons, he was never much of a hitter but has emerged as a strong defender behind the plate.

The Yanks acquired Trevino from the Rangers in April of 2022, sending Albert Abreu and Robby Ahlstrom the other way. Through the end of the 2021 season, Trevino had a batting line of .245/.270/.364. That translated to a wRC+ of 65, indicating he was about 35% below league average at the plate. His defense was graded around par during his first few seasons but he seemed to take a leap forward in his final year with Texas. Publicly available metrics graded him as one of the best pitch framers in the league that year.

His first year in the Bronx went quite well and stands out as his best season yet. He hit 11 home runs, more than doubling his previous career high of five. His .248/.283/.388 batting line was still subpar overall, leading to a wRC+ of 90, but that’s about par for a catcher. When combined with his excellent framing and good work behind the plate overall, he was worth 3.8 wins above replacement, per the calculations of FanGraphs.

Injuries got in the way in the subsequent two seasons. A right wrist tear required surgery in 2023 and then a left quad strain sent him to the injured list last year. Over those two campaigns, he got into just 129 games total. His offense fell to a combined .213/.275/.336, wRC+ of 72, but he still produced 2.4 fWAR on the strength of his defense.

The Reds already had Tyler Stephenson as their primary catcher going into this year but clearly liked the idea of Trevino as a complement. They effectively have opposite profiles, since Stephenson is more of a bat-first guy with lesser work while donning the tools of ignorance. The Reds subtracted a big strikeout pitcher from their bullpen in order to get Trevino, sending Cruz to the Yankees. After a few weeks in camp, they are clearly comfortable enough to keep Trevino around into the future as well.

Trevino’s presence has become more important in the short term, as Stephenson is set to begin the season on the IL due to an oblique strain. Trevino himself got a bit of a scare, as he was recently hit on the hand by a foul tip, but his tests came back clean and he appears to be on track to start the season healthy.

Turning to the long term, the Reds are surely hoping this will solidify their catching corps, which was previously fairly uncertain. As mentioned, Trevino was set to hit free agency after 2025. Stephenson is only under club control through 2026.

The top catching prospect in the system is Alfredo Duno, but he’s not close to the majors. He’s only 19 years old, for one thing. His professional résumé consists of 45 games in the Dominican Summer League in 2023 and 32 Single-A games last year. All signs point to a bright future but he won’t be in Cincinnati for a while.

With this new deal, it’s possible for the club to roll with the Trevino/Stephenson pairing for the next two years. By then, perhaps Duno will have worked his way to the upper levels of the minors and put himself in position to replace Stephenson. Even if not, the Reds will have Trevino in place for 2027 and will just need to find a complementary player. If all is going well, they can bring Trevino back for 2028 as well.

The $5-8MM range is a fairly standard AAV for a veteran catcher in his mid-30s, as shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker. In recent years, Mitch Garver and Yadier Molina were the only two backstops age-33 or older to surpass that range. Garver was signed to be more of a bat-first catcher/designated hitter while Molina was a legend in St. Louis. Players like Travis d’Arnaud, Kyle Higashioka, Yan Gomes, Martín Maldonado and Roberto Pérez have been in that $5-8MM window.

Looking ahead to next winter, this takes one of the more notable catchers off the board. For the 2025-26 offseason, the top free agent catchers are going to be J.T. Realmuto and Danny Jansen. Realmuto will be going into his age-35 season and might sign an extension with the Phillies before then. Jansen has had good numbers at times but has had a hard time staying healthy. Trevino would have been an interesting glove-first option for clubs but that won’t be the case now that he’s sticking in Cincinnati.

Jon Heyman of The New York Post first reported that the Reds and Trevino agreed to a deal running through 2027 with the 2028 club option. Mark Sheldon of MLB.com reported the full financial details. Photos courtesy of Sam Greene, Imagn Images.