Catcher Payton Henry has agreed to a minor league contract with the Blue Jays, he announced on X over the weekend. He’ll presumably receive an invitation to big league camp.
Henry spent the entire 2023 season in Triple-A with the Brewers. Milwaukee had outrighted him off the 40-man roster a couple weeks into the regular season. The Brew Crew had acquired the right-handed hitting backstop from the Marlins last offseason. That marked his second stint with the Milwaukee organization, as Henry had been drafted by the Brewers before being dealt to Miami in a 2021 trade that landed reliever John Curtiss in Wisconsin.
The 26-year-old hit .294/.341/.454 in 65 minor league contests this year. That’s roughly league average offense in a hitter-friendly International League setting. Henry struck out at an average 23.1% clip while walking less than 5% of the time. He has never had great strikeout and walk numbers, but prospect evaluators have credited the former sixth-round pick with strong raw power potential for a depth catcher.
Henry has 20 major league games under his belt split between the 2021 and ’22 seasons in Miami. He’s a .264/.331/.410 hitter in a little under 500 career Triple-A plate appearances. Barring injury, Henry is unlikely to secure a season-opening spot on a Toronto team that rosters Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk. The Jays recently lost third catcher Tyler Heineman on waivers, so Henry projects as non-roster depth who can open next year with their top affiliate in Buffalo.