Report: Toronto Blue Jays acquire catcher in trade with Texas Rangers

According the MLB.com's Keegan Matheson, the Toronto Blue Jays have acquired catcher Willie MacIver from the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers, who designated him for assignment yesterday, get cash considerations in return.

MacIver, 29, was claimed off waivers from the Athletics in November.

He’s been in Triple-A this year and is off to a rough start, with a .170/.333/.255 line through 60 plate appearances.

His major league track record is limited and unimpressive. He got into 33 games for the A’s last year and hit .186/.252/.324 in those.

He has shown the potential for more in the minors. Over 2024 and 2025, he slashed .323/.399/.534 in 604 Triple-A plate appearances.

He is off to a much slower start this year but his track record was enough to generate interest from from Toronto.

He still has options remaining which is probably why the Blue Jays acquired him and could be stashed in the minors as depth.

For the Jays, they are in need of some extra catching depth. They lost Alejandro Kirk to thumb surgery a couple of weeks ago.

They’ve since been using the duo of Tyler Heineman and Brandon Valenzuela.

The depth beyond those two was thin, with no other backstop on the 40-man. CJ Stubbs was the only other catcher in the system with major league experience.

That experience was just one game with the Nationals last year.

He’s also on the minor league injured list now, having not played in a couple of weeks.

The Blue Jays will continue with the Heineman-Valenzuela pairing in the big leagues for now.

Should an injury arise before Kirk comes back, then they can turn to MacIver.

Valenzuela also has options and currently sports a .161/.188/.258 line in 32 big league plate appearances, so it’s possible they could swap in MacIver for Valenzuela at some point.

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