The Mariners announced that catcher Seby Zavala went unclaimed on waivers. He was outrighted back to Triple-A Tacoma. Zavala has the right to elect free agency because he has been outrighted multiple times in his career, though he accepted his previous assignment to Tacoma a couple weeks ago.
Zavala spent the majority of the season as the backup catcher behind Cal Raleigh. Seattle has given Mitch Garver more time behind the dish in recent weeks, pushing Zavala off the roster as they try to find more offense. The M’s briefly brought him back up last week while Garver was day-to-day with a wrist issue.
The 30-year-old Zavala is a .205/.271/.342 hitter in 557 big league plate appearances. Most of that time came with the White Sox before brief stints with the D-Backs and Mariners over the last couple years. Raleigh and Garver are the only catchers on the 40-man roster. Assuming he sticks in the organization, Zavala would probably be the next man up if either of Seattle’s big league backstops suffer an injury.