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It has been some time since Alex Avila was a starting catcher in his days with the Tigers. Now 33 (soon to be 34) he has mainly been a veteran backup the past few years. He was briefly a Cub in 2017 when he came over in the Justin Wilson trade and played in 35 games. A memorable moment for him as a Cub was his walkoff single against the Blue Jays.

Since then Avila has played with the Arizona Diamondback and last year the Minnesota Twins. In 2020 he did struggle at the plate, hitting .184/.355/.286 in 23 games. He will still take walks and get on base. In his career he is a .235/.348/.394 hitter with 104 home runs, .742 OPS and 101 OPS+. In 2011 he was an All-Star and Silver Slugger recipient.

Avila is probably not going to produce like he did in Detroit days, but he is still a reliable backstop that can draw walks and have solid pop with the bat. He is a guy that if he needs to start 60-80 games, he can do so.  Coming off a one-year deal $4.25 million contract with Minnesota he certainly won’t make more than that in 2021.