



The White Sox agreed to a one-year deal with 37-year-old free agent Martin Maldonado Tuesday, a week after acquiring veteran catcher Max Stassi in a trade as they significantly upgrade their catching on the defensive side.
The Sox also have Maldonado’s former Astros teammate Korey Lee, who showed well defensively but hit poorly after he was acquired from the Astros for reliever Kendall Graveman at the trade deadline last summer.
The Sox will be the sixth team of Maldonado’s 13-year career, and they view him as a good fit for what figures to be a young, unproven pitching staff.
A proven catcher defensively for much of his career — he won a Gold Glove with the Angels in 2017 — Maldonado owns a .207/.282/.349 batting line and .631 OPS with 111 home runs during his career. With the Astros last season, he batted .191/.258/.348. The Astros signed Victor Carantini to a two-year deal in December.
While Maldonado’s reputation as a leader for pitching staffs and game calling, his framing numbers fell to last per Statcast among qualified catchers, and he threw out 14% of attempting base stealers.
The Sox have not announced the deal, which has been confirmed by sources. The deal includes a one-year option for 2025.
Maldonado has appeared in World Series with the Astros in 2019, ‘21 and ‘22.